A Royal Test
by Tharkun 140
Summary: Being adopted isn't all that bad. But if you happen to have been adopted by the wealthiest family in Remnant, then your life might get just a little bit complicated. Especially if you are stuck in the most intricate sibling rivalry of all times and the Beacon Academy is your battleground.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I recently got a huge influx of story ideas. Most of them are based off the butterfly effect kind of concept, where some event or a decision changes a character's life and impacts the course of the story. This is the one I picked, as I can sort of see where it could go. Still, I don't have any great plan so we'll see how long the story will end up being.**

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Weiss walked down the empty corridor of the Schnee mansion. The sound of heels hitting the floor echoed quite loudly – courtesy of a marble floor and an annoyingly acoustic ceiling.

Weiss didn't like this place very much. It was ridiculously large, mostly empty and there was too much white and blue used even for her tastes. It made her family home feel depressing and cold, although the architecture wasn't the only, or even main reason for that.

The Schnee family was messed up. There was really no other way to put it. Jacques Schnee was a ruthless businessman, more concerned with his company and the family name than with any of the family members. His wife, Willow, was always distanced both from her husband and her children, spending most of her time drinking or just brooding in solitude. More distant family members either lived in their own estates across Atlas or lied several feet underground, the effects of White Fang's crusade against the Schnee Dust Company. Winter was the only person from Weiss' family that showed her any real affection, but right now she was far away from 'home', likely on some mission from General Ironwood.

And then there was… him.

By the time Weiss reached her destination, Jaune Schnee was already standing before the door of their father's office. Well, not his father, at least not biologically, as Jaune didn't have a drop of Schnee blood in his veins. For outsiders it might have seemed like Weiss looked down on Jaune for that reason, but it really wasn't the case. She did look down on him, but she had other reasons for feeling this way. He was just so… Jaune. He was an utterly unbearable mix of an annoying younger brother and an entitled brat. Everything about him, from his lack of academic prowess to his brute-like fighting style brought shame to the Schnee name. And that was without even getting to his constant attempts at flirting with any attractive woman who came around and somehow managing to fail each and every single time. It amazed Weiss to no end - how could a member of the richest family in Atlas not be able to get himself a date? By being Jaune, that's how.

And then there was this thing about inheritance. After Winter joined the military and was subsequently disinherited, Weiss was named the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company due to being the second oldest child in the family. But there was no guarantee her status would last. Father had his plans regarding his children's future and Weiss' ambitions didn't necessarily fit with those. Sometimes she felt as if her father was just waiting to make Jaune into an heir and all he needed was for Weiss to give him a good excuse to do so.

Like she was about to in a few moments.

Right now Jaune was wearing his armor and had his sword at his waist. It was a good sign, as it probably meant that he would stick to the plan. Then again, it could have been a deliberate deception on his part. There really was no way to know.

"Hi sis." He said upon seeing Weiss approach, though there was little warmth in his voice. Instead, there was this grave seriousness with a hint of worry. "You haven't changed your mind about anything?"

"No. I'll stick to the plan." Weiss responded. "I just hope you haven't changed your mind. And that you won't change it the moment father asks you to."

Jaune simply snorted in response, though him being Jaune, it came out rather theatrically, ruining the desired effect. He then gestured for his sister to enter the room first.

Weiss obliged, pulling the door open and stepping into Jacques Schnee's office. The room was large, had a rectangular shape and was furnished with two rows of bookcases, two couches, a glass table and an old-fashioned desk , behind which sat the president of the Schnee Dust Company. It was really a testament to how poor his parenting skills were that Weiss often caught herself thinking about him as a businessman first and father second.

Or maybe it was something about his appearance. Her father had perfect looks for his role. His hair was grey, or rather outright white, which made him look wise and experienced, but he wasn't old enough to be physically appalling or even just ugly. His blue eyes were sharp, constantly surveying the environment as well as people around him, as if he was literally trying to see opportunities to make more lien all the time. His current pose made him look confident and authoritative as he leaned in his chair.

"Weiss. Jaune." He said as his children entered the office. "It is good to see you. Sit down please. There are some things we have to discuss."

They both took their seats, Weiss on one couch, Jaune on the other. The heiress was mentally running through the responses she has prepared, and her brother was no doubt doing the same thing. Well, unless he was thinking about how to seduce his latest crush. There really was no telling with this guy.

The father stood up from his chair. He looked just as authoritative standing as he was while sitting. He stepped down from the podium his desk was situated on and approached the glass table, situating himself so that he could look down on them both at the same time.

"Weiss." He turned slightly towards his daughter. "I was led to believe you are planning on attending Beacon Academy from this year onwards. Is that correct?"

Of course it was. Weiss made her plans clear on multiple occasions now, but her father would always suggest some alternative and end the conversation, as if expecting her to follow. This kind of tactic made sense in lesser affairs, but right now Weiss was pretty determined to have her way.

"Yes, father." She nodded. "I wish to become a huntress. Huntsmen and huntresses are the greatest warriors in the world. And aiming high is befitting of a Schnee."

"Indeed. But why Beacon is particular, may I ask?" The question sounded innocuous, but Weiss could feel the weight it carried. "I am certain General Ironwood would accept you into Atlas with open arms."

"I am not thrilled with the thought of studying in Atlas Academy. I heard they tend to pressure the graduates into joining the specialist units after the training, which I have no intention to do." The girl picked her words carefully. "Besides, I don't see myself in one of their uniforms." She allowed herself a small joke.

Father stayed silent for a moment. It was clear he was considering Weiss' words and contrasting them against his worries.

"I can see the logic in that," He finally spoke. "but from what I know Beacon is more demanding of new students than Atlas. Their initiations are brutal and expectations usually quite high. I would rather make absolutely sure my daughter isn't in danger of death or serious injury. I'd like to suggest some form of… preliminary exam first. See you fight some minor Grimm or a robot, so that you can test your skill in a safe environment."

Weiss hasn't heard anything about Beacon being particularly harsh on its students. She was also sure that whatever test her father wanted to put her through would be designed so that she would fail and be humiliated. Still, father didn't know just how strong she has become thanks to Winter's training and it was very unlikely he would compromise further. She was just about to voice her agreement, when…

"I don't think that will be necessary." Jaune said his first word since entering the room. "Weiss is an exceptional fighter, I can attest. Better than me in that regard, that is for sure. She should do just fine in Beacon and if she doesn't… well, that would be a shame, but with the experienced huntsmen around, I don't think she is in risk of dying. She would be risking expulsion and some humiliation at worst, after which she can always just return to us."

Which would paint her as unreasonable and reckless, which in turn would be a decent pretext for disinheriting her. Weiss narrowed her eyes, letting a bit of her anger show. Did Jaune just betray her? Was he willing to trade his shot at being huntsman for a better chance at inheriting the company?

Father now wore an expression of pleasant surprise. "You truly do believe in you sister. It is good when siblings place such trust in each other."

A small compliment that would also 'unintentionally' remind Jaune of how little respect for his abilities Weiss had. Classic Jacques Schnee.

"Well then," father continued. "I will also show my daughter some faith and let her go to Beacon once the semester starts. But what about you, Jaune? If I remember correctly, you had aspirations in that field as well."

"And I still do. I would want to study at Beacon as well, in fact."

And in that moment, Weiss understood.

Jacques Schnee remained silent for almost a minute. Again, he was considering different scenarios, but this time the matter was more complex… and yet the decision was more obvious. If he denied Jaune his chance, he would be showing him far less trust than his daughter. Jacques would end up having the heiress in another Kingdom and his youngest, now disgruntled son in his grasp. If he made Jaune a heir later on, there would be nothing more to threaten Jaune with from then on, no way for Jacques to control his son. If he didn't, then it would look like his biological daughter was getting some major parental favoritism, which wasn't good for the reputation. Worse yet, it would show Weiss that she can have whatever she wants without much consequence. It was a losing outcome for him either way.

"Are you sure about that? No offence son, but you are yet to unlock your semblance, are you not?" Still, her father would try to persuade Jaune peacefully, as getting him to agree would solve his biggest problem. Sadly for him, his son did have quite a bit of resolve.

"There are fighters who manage themselves quite well even without a semblance." Jaune retorted. "And I'm not half bad if you trust the tutors."

"I agree." Weiss decided it would be appropriate to back her brother up on this. "I spar with Jaune quite often and he is a formidable opponent."

"I have no choice but to trust you on that." Father commented dryly. "But I must ask, what is your reason for choosing Beacon in particular?"

At this point it was clear Jacques gave up. The question he gave Jaune had an obvious, satisfying answer.

"It's mostly about reputation. I would love to see the Schnee family gaining popularity in other Kingdoms, and with my biological heritage I should have at least some advantage in Vale."

A tiny smile appeared on father's face. Perhaps he was just satisfied with Jaune's response, or maybe he could appreciate cunning in his children. It was always hard to tell with him. "Very well. If you both plan on receiving huntsmen training, you might as well go to school together. You'll be able to watch each other's backs this way."

The president stepped on a podium again and sat on his chair, indicating that the exchange was over. "Still, if either of you changes their mind, there is always a place for you among your family. Do not forget that."

"We will not." Weiss nodded, stood up from the couch and headed for the door. Jaune did the same thing, except he stayed silent. He had already said all he needed to say.

The moment they exited through the door, Weiss elbowed her brother, putting quite a bit of strength into it. "What was that? Our plan didn't involve vouching for each other, and it certainly didn't involve playing with the father like that!"

"Well for one, I didn't say I'll stick to the plan. You should have asked." Jaune grinned stupidly, though that expression disappeared as anger grew on his sister's face. "Look, I'm sorry, but I needed you genuinely surprised. If not for that, father would have seen through the ruse like through clear ice. And it worked in the end, hasn't it?"

It has. Despite having lived with Jaune for most of her life, Weiss would still occasionally find herself surprised at how cunning her adopted brother could be. He was not smarter than her overall of course, but he certainly had his moments.

"I suppose you are right." She conceded. "You helped me out and you have my thanks. But if you think I'm going to go easy on you because of that, then you are dead wrong."

"I would never count on that." Jaune responded, his voice grave serious. "Not from you."

Two sets of blue eyes stared into each other. Paradoxically, their common victory would just serve to make their rivalry more intense than ever. Soon they would both be at Beacon and without any other way to judge them, their father would note their achievements and base his decisions off that.

They were now in a game, in which the Schnee legacy was the main prize.

A game Weiss didn't intend to lose.

* * *

 **This is actually the first chapter that I got somebody to grammar-check. Hope it shows. Unless it doesn't show because my grammar is good anyway. In this case, I hope it doesn't show.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, this is already the most popular story of mine in terms of favorites and follows. Which isn't saying much… but it still gives me an incentive to write.**

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Jaune was covered in cold sweat. His head ached horribly and his stomach kept convulsing, even though by now all its contents have been vomited out into paper bags.

To say that Jaune Schnee had a rough start at Beacon would be a major understatement.

Heck, he wasn't even in Beacon yet. Right now he and the other students were on an airship, that was just about to land on one of academy's landing pads. And yet, he already made a horrible first impression on everyone present. He was prepared for the air sickness to strike, hence the paper bags, but he didn't expect it to be that bad. Perhaps it was his nerves that made it all worse.

Because he really was nervous. His future very much depended on his actions now and he didn't really know what to do. He had made plans prior to going to Beacon of course, but, as he only now realized, those plans were hardly specific. He knew that he should try to get paired up with the strongest, try to show off just a bit and not make any enemies if possible… but none of these helped him very much now. Not with making allies and certainly not with his air sickness.

Damn, how much he hated it. Weiss, not having to deal with her stomach rebelling against her, was probably already forming alliances and such. Luckily, judging from the recent announcement, they were about to land in a minute or two, after which Jaune would be able to talk to people without vomiting all over them. He hasn't really lost all that much time, though his interactions with the fellow students would be hindered by them remembering Jaune Schnee spewing his breakfast out.

After the aircraft finally landed, Jaune was one of the first people to get out. He felt an urge to kiss the ground, but there was no advantage to acting so comically, at least not as of now. Instead he just took several deep breaths, partially to calm himself down, but also because he enjoyed inhaling air that didn't smell of vomit.

Taking a quick look around revealed that most prospective students were either chatting in groups or - not unlike Jaune in all honesty - stumbling around nervous and confused. Jaune failed to recognize anyone from face alone but he assumed most people were from Vale or its adjacent territories. Most people would rather attend a school in their own Kingdom, after all. He wouldn't be surprised if he and Weiss turned out to be the only ones who came from Atlas.

Weiss… Jaune considered finding her and sabotaging whatever she was doing right now, but he concluded that it would be largely pointless. Starting his own little endeavor was a better strategy by far.

And besides, Jaune didn't really want Weiss to _fail._ She wanted to be a huntress just as much as he wanted to be a huntsman and she deserved a chance to live that dream. And he certainly didn't wish her to fail at making friends here – his sister could definitely use some companionship.

Thing was, he didn't want her to _succeed_ either. Not when it meant her inheriting the Schnee Dust Company. Jaune's own aspirations aside, she just wasn't fit for the role, regardless of what she might have claimed. She was bossy, easily annoyed, not to mention prejudiced against the faunus… and people who she deemed less intelligent than her. Oh sure, Jaune wasn't perfect either, but with no fourth sibling to take the helm, he was the best person for the role. Or, at the very least, the lesser of two evils. That's why he needed to win this little game, and he could start by making some friends.

He doubted he could just blend into some group, as those have likely been established long prior to the initiation day. The nervous loners were unlikely to be very strong or capable, as hypocritical as it was for Jaune to think that. He needed to find somebody who looked confident, but wasn't already a part of some conceived team. From then on he could convince them that they should try to team up later on, hopefully by appearing strong himself, though he wasn't exactly above utilizing bribery. He was sure Weiss wouldn't play fair, so why would he?

It took him quite a while to spot a person who fit both the criteria. A girl dressed in a black and white outfit, standing with her back against a nearby tree, holding some book in one hand. Her fair, almost pale skin contrasted with her long, black hair. Really, the only part of her that was neither black nor white were her eyes which bore this unusual shade of… yellow? Amber? Gold? It was hard to tell.

Jaune forced himself not to think about her physical features – which was pretty hard, because the girl had a _really_ nice figure – as he knew what would happen if he tried to flirt with her. He had a long history of getting rejected by females. A history which occasionally involved the girls slapping him or kicking him in the balls for good measure, neither of which was something he wanted to get from a prospective huntress. On the plus side though, by now he knew exactly how one should _not_ talk to women. Maybe he could apply that knowledge right now.

He approached the girl, his expression casual, not bothering with any outward gesture of greeting. The brunette spared him a rather uninterested look, though there seemed to be a measure of alertness in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" The girl's voice matched her facial expression. Largely apathetic, but with a note of caution. Jaune got the feeling that she was ready to pull out a weapon and strike him down at any moment. One more reason not to hit on her.

"Most people are heading towards the auditorium right now. Unlike you. I just wanted to check if everything's okay." Jaune responded, going for a rather risky strategy.

"Everything is fine. I'm just reading." The girl gestured to the book she held. _Man with Two Souls_ \- not exactly sublime literature as far as Jaune was concerned, but it was certainly interesting that she was willing to spend her time reading the day before the initiation. She definitely felt confident about her skills... or just she loved reading more than she loved being alive. Jaune decided to be an optimist for once and assumed the former.

"Look, there is no reason to be embarrassed." He said, assuming a mildly patronizing tone. "To be honest, I'm not feeling all that confident either."

"What are you talking about?" All the cautiousness was replaced by confusion, with a tinge of irritation. Well, more than just a tinge.

"You are clearly nervous and not without a reason. I just wanted you to know that failing won't be the end of the world. A huntsman's life just isn't for everyone and there many other, wonderful careers available." Jaune responded, managing to keep a straight face, though not without some effort.

"What? I... I'm not afraid!" Irritation, or rather outright anger, has overtaken the girl's voice. "I know how to fight. Better than you, I bet."

"Now, there is no point in denial. If you don't acknowledge your weakness, you will only hurt your chances even further." Jaune kept the patronizing tone.

"I'm not denying anything! Well I am, but that's because..." Brunette suddenly paused. "You are messing with me, right?"

"Eh, not entirely. I was serious when I said I'm not feeling confident. Really, I'm surprised that you are that calm. Wanted to ask you how you manage that." Jaune said, this time keeping the tone of his voice neutral.

"You... have a strange way of starting conversations." The girl still seemed somewhat annoyed, but not quite angry. In fact, the sentence betrayed some level of interest from her regarding his person.

Perfect.

"Well, let me start again then." Jaune coughed theatrically and then stretched an open palm "Hi. My name's Jaune."

"Blake." The girl responded after a moment of hesitation. It looked like Jaune managed to apply just the right level of smugness. "Are you from around here? You don't look like it."

"You mean I'm exceptional?" He teased again, but in a way that left Blake an obvious punchline.

"Exceptionally annoying, maybe." Blake responded, without much originality. "You just have that look in your eyes. As if you were constantly looking for threats. Were you raised outside the Kingdoms?"

Damn. The girl sure was perceptive, even if her conclusions were backwards.

"Nah. It's sort of a normal thing in my family." Jaune replied truthfully. "My father says a Schnee always has to be on their guard."

Now, different people would react differently to finding out Jaune's family name. Most would find themselves surprised in a neutral sort of way. Some, namely gold diggers and vultures, would be immediately delighted. Others would react in disbelief and some people, unfortunately, would react negatively.

To say that Blake reacted negatively would be an understatement. Her eyes narrowed, this time not in irritation, annoyance or even anger, but in a clear and pure _hatred_. Her right hand quickly moved towards the weapon on her back and, for a moment, Jaune was genuinely afraid she would attack him. He reached for Crocea Mors, even though he probably wouldn't be able to intercept a strike in time.

Before either of them got to kill the other one, however, a loud sound resonated in the air. An explosion, sounding somewhat like a really loud dust firework. Jaune instinctively tilted his head in the direction the sound came from.

 _Well, I could have expected something like that._

In the distance, Weiss was talking, or more likely, arguing with some other girl. It was hard to tell from that far, but the other girl appeared even shorter than his sister and likely a bit younger, though that would raise the question of what she was doing in Beacon. Scattered bags laying on the ground suggested some sort of dust accident. It wasn't hard to make out what has just happened.

"Why won't you go hang around with your family?" Blake said to Jaune, turned around and walked away without another word. Apparently, she was able to recognize Weiss a member of Schnee family, but not him. It made Jaune feel sort of sad and maybe a little offended, though he was mostly relieved that the brunette seemingly wouldn't be slicing his head off.

As for her dislike of his family, he really couldn't blame her. Schnee Dust Company had a pretty poor reputation and not without reasons. Heck, Blake could have been one of the people who got screwed over as a result of the company's economic expansion. Jaune knew he risked running into people like that... he just hoped that the first person he talked to wouldn't be one of them.

With a sigh, he turned his attention to the scene unfolding in the distance. It looked almost comical, the short girl twitching her fingers while Weiss yelled something about her being a dolt. Not atypical for his older sister.

Really, he probably ought not to interfere. Weiss was really doing him a favor by making enemies in Beacon this way. But then again, Jaune attended this school to become a hero. Somebody who protects the people and fights for justice. And having to deal with a pissed-off Weiss was not something anyone deserved, dolt or not.

He therefore sighed again and made his way towards the two young women arguing on the avenue.

* * *

To say that Ruby Rose had a rough start at Beacon would be pretty accurate.

She was pretty nervous about coming to the prestigious academy despite being two years younger than all the other students. It's not that she was afraid she wouldn't turn out good enough - she was pretty skilled and had the best weapon ever at her disposal. It was just the regular, but annoying anxiety that came with coming to a new place and meeting new people, especially since all of these people would be older than her.

She consoled herself with the thought that she would at least have Yang at her side. But nope, her sister ran away, leaving Ruby behind, alone and confused.

And now, the youngest Beacon student ever was stuck with some crabby girl that wouldn't stop lecturing her.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice you know. We're here to fight monsters! So watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Ruby thought that maybe, if she talked back, the girl would leave her alone sooner. Judging from how her frown deepened, that was not the case. Before she got to respond, however, another voice filled the air.

"It's heiress, actually." A tall boy in full armor approached the two of them. He paid Ruby only a quick glance and focused his gaze on the girl in white. "Weiss, what do you think you are doing?"

"And why do you think it's your business?" The girl, Weiss as she was apparently called, seemed just as upset at the new guy as she was at Ruby. Perhaps even more, judging from how her eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing him.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting you. I just thought our game would be more fun if you didn't sabotage yourself from the very start." The boy responded, his eyes still focused on the girl in white. His expression could be best described as cold. Uncaring and hardly angry, but not entirely emotionless either. It was kind of creepy to be honest. Weiss responded with a stern look and a pout of her own.

They then stood like this for almost a minute, eyes set on each other. Ruby failed to make out the reason for it. Were they having some sort of telepathic conversation? Or maybe it was a staring contest? Was that this 'game' the boy mentioned?

Finally, the girl huffed theatrically, turned around and walked away. The armored boy kept his eyes on her for a few more seconds and turned to Ruby. His expression softened and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Sorry for her. I'm Jaune." He extended a hand towards Ruby, who reciprocated the gesture.

"Ruby. And I'm kind of to blame for that." She looked around, over the scattered bags that apparently contained refined dust among other things. A group of people in black suits moved in, presumably to gather the luggage.

"Don't blame yourself. She can be like that sometimes." Jaune responded and then gesture towards the large building in the distance. "I'm heading to the auditorium. Want to go with me?"

Ruby nodded and the two of them made their way through the avenue. Suddenly, Ruby recalled seeing the guy on the airship. From what she could remember, he was vomiting throughout the landing, but she bit her tongue before she brought that up. 'Aren't you the guy who threw up on an airship?' didn't sound very polite, and Jaune deserved some of that after rescuing Ruby from that crabby girl. Therefore, Ruby settled on another topic.

"So, who was that girl? You seemed to know her." Ruby asked, before adding hastily. "Not that I'm lumping you two together or anything."

Jaune smiled weakly. "Well, you'd be kind of right to. You just had a pleasure of meeting Weiss Schnee, my dear big sister."

That reply took Ruby by surprise. Sure, she could see some similarities between the two now that she thought about it, such as blue eyes and extremely light-colored hair, but it just did not compute with how Jaune and Weiss acted towards each other. At all. Shouldn't siblings, like, like each other? At least a little bit? Ruby had her spouts with Yang, but what happened a minute ago seemed far more serious. Her voice of reason told her not to dig into the topic, but curiosity prevailed.

"Um, did you guys had an argument recently or something? She seemed kind of mad at you."

"Me and Weiss... don't really get along. It's complicated." Both his words and the tone of his voice made it clear that he did not wish to discuss the matter any further. Ruby mentally kicked herself for bringing the topic up and decided to change it to a more pleasant one.

"Hey, what's your weapon? If you are coming to Beacon like me, then I bet you must have some cool one."

Jaune gave her a strange look, filled with something resembling suspicion, but smiled just a moment later. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours first. Deal?"

"Deal." Ruby grabbed and activated Crescent Rose. Jaune took a quick step back, either to be able to fully admire the unfolding scythe, or just to avoid being accidentally hit by it.

"A customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle, with scythe as its melee form." Ruby said proudly.

"That's cool." Jaune responded and drew what looked like simple longsword. "I got this thing. And no, it doesn't have any additional forms, though I can expand the sheathe into a shield."

"That's nice" Ruby commented, but couldn't quite stop herself from adding a little jab. "You aren't one for fancy features, huh?"

"Well, I wasn't the one to design Crocea Mors. It's a family heirloom, passed from generation to generation. I'm sort of surprised it's still in one piece." Indeed, the blade has several cracks on it, but it still looked fairly sturdy. For all her love of guns, Ruby could appreciate the fine, classical craft of the blade.

"Cool. So it's a Schnee legacy weapon?" As Ruby asked that question, she recalled that Jaune called Weiss an heiress. If that was correct, than why was he the one wielding the family weapon? And were the Schnees a hunstmen family anyway?

"No." Jaune's smile fell somewhat. "I was talking about the Arc bloodline. My... biological family."

 _Crap. Way to avoid sensitive topics, Ruby._

"Well... " Ruby desperately searched for some way to change the subject, but aside from weapons there really wasn't much she could talk about. "I'm looking forward to seeing you fight during the initiation. I'm sure you'll do great!"

"I sure hope so." Jaune responded, smile now wiped from his face completely. A long moment of silence followed, one that Ruby couldn't find a way to break. So instead she just kept on walking while beating herself up.

Eventually, they reached the main building. A lot of students were coming in and it looked like the headmaster's speech was just about to star.

"Well," Jaune spoke, putting on a smile again, though it didn't really mesh well with the tone of his voice. "I hope we'll see each other in Beacon. I'm sure you'll do great as well, Ruby." He then stepped into the flow of people and passed through the door without looking back at her.

"See you!" Ruby yelled, trying to sound cheerful, but even she could tell that it came out really awkward. It appeared like she just screwed up, and more than usually at that.

Ruby sighed. Once she found Yang, she would tell her off for leaving her sister like that, with her nonexistent social skills.

Hopefully that argument wouldn't be as cold as some were...

* * *

 **Seriously, what is that thing Blake used to wear? It takes the wiki like two paragraphs and several obscure words to describe this outfit. She looks a penguin if you ask me.**

 **But to the more important stuff. Someone in the reviews predicted that I would stick with Weiss' perspective and keep Jaune's thoughts secret so that I could set up a false narrative that I would then subvert… no. For one, it would make story pretty predictable, but more importantly it would make it much harder for me to write a compelling conflict. Having one of the main characters as an antagonist would require me to make them a lot stronger and/or cunning than the other one in order to preserve the stakes, as the story is no fun when the protagonist has the situation under control.**

 **I think I'm going to be jumping between the two perspectives, or rather between two focus points of the story. Show their actions, their plans, the opinions other people hold regarding them as well as their own views on the people and events around them. Gives a broader perspective and all that.**

 **Also, in case I didn't make that clear enough; Whitley doesn't exist in this timeline. I sort of assumed that Jacques just resolved to produce kids until he got a son. With Jaune being present and more or less compliant with his father's plans, there is no need to make the family any bigger. Also, Whitley would make the story even more complicated than it already is by adding a third player to the mix and giving Jacques yet another potential heir, if both Jaune and Weiss are deemed unsuitable. So yeah, he is an un-person now.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter, this time lengthier and with more Weiss. Enjoy.**

* * *

Weiss was upset.

She imagined her first day at Beacon somewhat differently. She expected people to pay more attention to the Schnee heiress and her perfect attire - though that _might_ had been a little arrogant of her - and she certainly didn't expect some child to run into her luggage and then blow up. It just wasn't a situation she had thought to prepare for.

So, instead of handling the situation in some more dignified manner, she had yelled at the girl in the middle of the yard. And it was _Jaune_ who had to step up and remind her what she was supposed to be doing. Though Weiss sure hated to admit it, her brother showed more courtesy in that particular situation than her, not to mention more common sense. If the rest of their stay in Beacon looked like that, then Father would surely pass the company to Jaune and he would have a rather good reason for doing so.

But no, Weiss wasn't stupid. She lost her composure for a moment, sure, but who wouldn't when dealing with such a dunce as that girl? That incident would not be repeated.

She was still a master of the game, or at the very least a better player than her brother. She just needed to start showing it.

After her little spat with the young girl, Weiss ordered her men to find some place to temporarily store the bags - it's not like she would be needing them any time soon - and set off towards the auditorium, marching as quickly as her heels allowed her. She prided herself on her punctuality and she really didn't want to be late for something the very first day.

After a few minutes she arrived at the auditorium. It was a large hall with a circular podium opposite to the exit. There were bleachers on the side, which made Weiss suspect that the place was used as a combat arena during the school year. Annoyingly, there were no seats of any kind on the ground level where all the students stood, but at least the room was large enough to fit all the people present without feeling too crowded.

And there were quite a few of those. Aspiring huntsmen and huntresses from all of Vale, as well as from other corners of Remnant judging from the variety of skin tones and clothing styles among the crowd members. There were dozens of them here, maybe over a hundred. Most of them would end up failing to pass the initiation or even just chickening out before it started. With ten new teams being formed every year, less than a half of the candidates would be staying at Beacon for the rest of the year. That list would include Weiss of course. And Jaune as well, unless he would get very unlucky during the initiation.

Weiss didn't personally know any of the people around her, but she could recognize some of them from the various tournaments she has watched as a form of preparation. Pyrrha Nikos was probably somewhere in that crowd - she did announce she would be attending Beacon this year - but there was no point seeking her out. She was a famous athlete, thus not somebody who could be easily bribed or impressed by Weiss' combat abilities. Should the suitable occasion arise, she would have a chat with Nikos. If not, then she would just leave the champion alone and hope that Jaune will hit on her and get slammed into a wall or something.

Instead, Weiss attempted to find some other formidable fighter among the wannabe students. There was maybe half a dozen participants from Vale regional tournament, such as Rosewell or Bronzewing to name just two, but none of them was of a really high caliber - the most successful combatants tended to stick to competitive fighting, as getting a huntsman training got a person disqualified from most official tournaments.

Ultimately, it wasn't any known fighter that caught Weiss' eye. There was a girl whom the heiress hadn't seen before, but whom she could immediately recognize as a strong fighter. She was tall, muscular and had ridiculously long, voluminous blond hair. Right now the girl was surrounded by several people, all their attention centered solely on the blonde - a situation Weiss found herself in multiple times in the past, except that girl was probably not being bothered due to being rich. If there were some gold diggers around there, it made more sense for them to focus on the Schnee heiress. More likely, the people around the girl recognized her as a strong fighter and were hoping to get on her team later on, or just to get some tips from her. Well, some of them could have been suitors - the blonde's figure was bound to attract some of those.

The heiress was afraid she would have to interrupt the ongoing conversation, but conveniently, the little crowd dispersed few moments later, blonde waving the others goodbye.

"Old friends?" Weiss asked, approaching the girl. Normally, she wouldn't speak to a stranger just like that, but she got the feeling that it wasn't a place for formal introductions. "Or have you already made some here in Beacon?"

"Nah, these are my old buddies from Signal." Luckily, the blonde indeed seemed to have no problem casually chatting with strangers. She has also apparently attended the Signal Academy, one of the best combat schools in all of Sanus. Both of these were good signs. "I'm Yang, by the way."

"Weiss Schnee. A pleasure to meet you." Weiss said, outstretching a hand towards the other girl.

If Yang recognized the Schnee name, she didn't let that show. She simply smiled and shook Weiss' hand, gripping it a bit too hard for her liking. _Showing off your strength, or are you really unaware of it?_

"So, you think you have a shot at joining Beacon? No offence, but you don't look the part in that dress of yours."

"I do feel fairly confident." Weiss replied. "And it's a combat skirt, thank you very much."

"Combat skirt? Heh, I think that's how my sister calls her dress as well."

"So you have a sister? One who knows more about fashion than you?" Weiss latched onto a generic topic and simultaneously making a harmless jab at the other girl. It seemed like a safe strategy.

"I have an excellent fashion sense." Yang said, pointing at her attire as to prove her statement. And indeed, her clothing looked pretty good, but just about anything would on that body of hers.

 _That would be the second time I thought about her this way. Am I losing my heterosexuality? Has spending time with Jaune made me like men less?_

"But yeah, I have a younger sister. She should be somewhere around here in fact."

Somewhere around here? The only people in the hall, aside from the teachers watching over everything, were the prospective students and those couldn't be younger than seventeen. Did Yang have a twin sister that was, like, several minutes younger than her? Or maybe an adoptive sibling with a couple months of difference in terms of age? It would be a weird coincidence if Yang was in almost the exact same situation as Weiss, but that couldn't be ruled out.

Or perhaps... no, that couldn't be the case.

"Oh, here she is." Yang turned towards the entrance and waved at somebody. "Hi Ruby!"

No.

Upon hearing her older sister call out to her, the dark-haired girl ran up to her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Weiss, as if she was unsure whether or not it was safe to come closer.

"Oh, that is Weiss. Weiss, Ruby." Yang 'introduced' the two of them to each other. When she saw that Ruby was still anxious, she added: "Oh come on sis. You can't be that socially awkward."

"We have met each other beforehand." Weiss explained, forcing herself to be polite for once. She wouldn't let Ruby foil her plans, no matter how annoying she was.

"Yeah. We have..." Ruby suddenly expressed an unusual fascination with her shoes.

"Not a great first meeting, then?" Yang asked, a small, teasing smile on her face.

"She exploded at me." Weiss explained.

"Really? She doesn't get angry easily."

"No, I meant that literally. She exploded at me."

"It was an accident!" Ruby exclaimed, finally deciding to come up to Weiss and Yang.

"Yes, I know." Weiss replied, ignoring the wide eyed look the blonde was now giving them. "You didn't damage anything, so I suppose there is no real harm done. Really, I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

"So... can we be friends?" Ruby asked, her face turning hopeful all of the sudden.

Weiss was surprised at such a direct request, but she supposed it was convenient. Making 'friends' with Ruby would surely earn her some points with her older sister. Besides, if the girl was accepted into Beacon at such a young age, maybe she was worth something on her own. It was unlikely for her to be as experienced as the rest of the students, but perhaps she had some unusually powerful semblance, like shooting Grimm-killing lasers out of her eyes.

"Sure, why not." The look on the brunette's face was almost comical with how wide her grin was.

"Oh, are we going to go out shopping? Maybe we could paint nails and talk about cute boys?" Ruby asked, enthusiasm audible in her voice and visible on her face.

"Maybe later, once we are all past the initiation." Weiss replied politely, even though she already had second thoughts about whether dealing with this dolt was truly worth it.

"Well, looks like I was right!" Yang said. "All it took was leaving you alone for a moment and you already made a friend here!"

"That is not an excuse! You left me alone there, with no idea what to do or where to go!" Ruby retorted angrily.

"But you did alright, didn't you? You should be proud of yourself sis." As if to emphasize her point, Yang hugged Ruby closely, to which the brunette strongly, but ineffectually objected by trying to break out of the grip.

Now that the sisters were so close to each other - much to close for Ruby's liking - Weiss couldn't help but notice just how physically different the two of them were. Whereas Yang was tall, blond and _very_ well-developed, Ruby was quite short, not particularly wide and had raven hair, save for the red tips. She knew asking about that was not the best strategy, but curiosity prevailed.

"I'm sorry, but you two don't look alike. At all. Are you..."

"We are half-sisters." Yang said, letting go of Ruby and allowing her to breathe freely. "And don't worry, people wonder that all the time."

So, they were partially related. That made sense, as half siblings often wouldn't bear any resemblance between each other.

"About that..." Ruby suddenly spoke, this time more meekly and looking at Weiss again.

"Have I been insensitive? My apologies."

"No! Everything's fine. I was just wondering..."

Weiss looked at the girl questioningly.

"What is the deal between you and Jaune?"

Weiss' eyes narrowed.

"Of course. I should have expected it. What exactly did my brother tell you about me?" The heiress realized she wasn't being polite anymore, but she stopped caring a second earlier.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Yang asked in confusion, but Weiss just kept her stare fixed at Ruby.

"Nothing, really." The brunette responded after a moment of tense silence. "Just that you two don't get along that well."

Of course. Weiss should had seen that coming. She had left the girl alone with Jaune, who, unlike his sister apparently, could see the potential benefits of associating with someone who could well be the youngest Beacon student ever. He had probably already told Ruby some things about Weiss - maybe it really wasn't much, but surely enough to make the girl distrustful.

"Listen to me carefully." Weiss said, her voice coming out far colder than she indented. "Jaune is a shameless, power-hungry knave who cares about nothing but his selfish ambitions. He would gladly have me thrown off into the street so that I couldn't stand in his way and you can be damn sure he will throw _you_ under the bus at the nearest opportunity."

"But... he doesn't seem like it." Ruby responded meekly, only angering Weiss more.

"Of course he doesn't! He would be a fool if he was so open about it. He will manipulate you, tell you all the lies, half-lies and convenient truths so that you trust him. Don't fall for it."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Ruby was clearly taken aback by Weiss' tirade. "Is that because you are not..."

Not real siblings. Of course, that would be one of the first things Jaune would tell somebody in order to discredit her. He liked painting this sort of narrative. Weiss wasn't averse to him for any legitimate reasons, she was just an evil adoptive sister. And _of course_ it would work on someone who had already seen her at her worst. That bastard.

Ruby must have sensed Weiss' anger - she backed away slightly, as if she was expecting the heiress to jump at her. Yang also tensed visibly and she seemed ready to jump between the two other girls at any moment. Like Weiss was a Beowolf preparing an attack.

So much for making a good first impression. Even if Weiss apologized immediately, there was no returning to a safe topic after something like that. Not without some major awkwardness anyways.

"I'm sorry, I think I saw my friend over there." Weiss said, turning her head in the random direction. "I'll leave you for now, is that alright?"

Ruby opened her mouth as though to say something, but then she closed it again and simply nodded. Without saying another word, Weiss turned around and walked deeper into the crowd, leaving disheartened Ruby and confused Yang behind her.

She wondered if Jaune knew what he was doing when he turned Ruby against Weiss like that. Could he have known that the girl had a sister in Beacon? No, not before talking to Ruby about that at least. He probably just found the young girl a valuable ally on her own and he might have hoped that she would spread some unfavorable rumors about the Schnee heiress.

It was an obvious move to make, really. Weiss cursed herself for not thinking of something like that earlier. She really needed to step up her game.

It wasn't a time for that, though, as soon after Weiss finished talking with the sister, the headmaster finally stepped on the podium and approached the microphone. He was a tall man dressed in a suit. His hair was completely grey and he wore glasses over his eyes, but he didn't appear senile – he stood upright and expressed a sort of confidence that suggested he retained his combat prowess even at his age.

All of this fit what Weiss heard about Professor Ozpin. He was, according to all reliable accounts, one of the strongest huntsmen alive and had decades of experience fighting Grimm, as well as other threats to Remnant's safety. There were rumors that the other three headmasters were largely following Ozpin's advice, acknowledging his hard-earned expertise.

His speech, however, proved itself quite underwhelming. Weiss was hoping to hear some sort of objective information that would help her later on or even a general advice, but instead she had to stand through a rather cryptic speech about knowledge and search for direction, and how the former would help with the latter. After the headmaster finished and the deputy head – Ms. Goodwitch, if she recalled correctly – dismissed everyone, Weiss found herself disappointed and somewhat irritated at having been made to go to the hall and spend several minutes standing just for that. Still, she memorized the speech in case it contained some useful knowledge after all, like it tended to happen in fairy tales and stories in general.

As people started to chat between each other, Weiss headed towards the exit. If she wanted to chat somebody up, she was better off doing it somewhere quieter. She didn't want to have to outshout everyone else while paying her interlocutor a compliment.

Soon enough, she exited the hall and walked onto the corridor. She was yet to decide where exactly she would be spending the rest of the day – there was nothing else planned for the prospective students until the evening. Perhaps she should just walk around the campus memorizing the terrain and chat up to anyone who seemed worthy of her attention? That sounded like a pretty good….

"I'm sorry, could you help me out?" Weiss heard a voice calling from behind her. A deep, male voice. Upon turning around, she saw a young man, probably another student, walking towards her.

The guy was tall, lean and well-built, though she couldn't call him muscular. His hair was black save for a single pink streak and his eyes had an unusual shade of magenta. A sense of confidence seemed to radiate from him as he walked towards Weiss – not the same kind Yang emanated, but more… subdued. As if he simply felt no fear or nervousness whatsoever and thus didn't overcompensate for them by inviting challenge. Weiss could bet he was one of the stronger people there, though obviously she wasn't able to tell how strong he was exactly without actually seeing him fight.

"What is the matter?" Weiss replied. She found the man in front of her interesting enough to talk to, though if his question was just a set up for some lame pick-up line, she would turn around and leave immediately, maybe freeze the guy to the ground so that he couldn't follow her.

"I am looking for my friend here. I was wondering if you have seen her?"

Her? Well, that definitely wasn't a pick up line. If his first step to flirting was mentioning another woman, then he was almost as bad at this as Jaune. Almost.

"Well what did she look like?" Weiss asked.

"Ginger hair, dressed in white and pink. Not very tall, about your height." Well, that was another sign he wasn't trying to seduce her. Still, he could be useful for other purposes than _that_.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen her." The heiress responded. "I could help you look for her though."

"No, that's my problem to…"

"I insist." Weiss interrupted. "It is not like I have anything better to do now that the speech is over."

"Well… you have my thanks then." He said and then outstretched his hand. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? Lie Ren, though I usually go by my second name."

"Weiss Schnee." The heiress said while shaking Ren's hand. There was a small shift on his face, but it wasn't any negative emotion, just a sign that he recognized the name and possibly connected it to her appearance and demeanor. That was to be expected. "And I feel it is my duty to help fellow students in need."

"We are not students just yet, you know?" Ren said, as he began walking down the corridor.

"Are you afraid you won't pass the initiation then?" Weiss asked, following close behind him. She was looking around, trying to spot any red-haired girl, but mentally remained focused solely on the conversation.

"Not really." He shrugged. "I am fairly good at killing Grimm and so is Nora. I think we will pass without much trouble."

This sentence confirmed Weiss' initial impression of the man. Strong and confident, as a huntsmen should always be.

"So, you are saying your partner is as strong as you?" Weiss said, sneaking in a compliment.

"Stronger, really. She is a great fighter and I'm sure she will make a great huntress. She is just a little…"

Ren never got to finish this sentence, as suddenly, a person stepped in their way. A girl around their age, dressed in a white and pink outfit, with relatively short, orange hair, just like Ren had described. Aside from those features, the girl had turquoise eyes and a fit figure, including visibly muscled arms. In each of her hands she held an ice-cream on a stick.

"Hi Renny!" She said in a high-pitched, nasal voice that somehow managed to annoy Weiss by itself. "Guess what? There is an ice cream stand on the other side of the campus. Here, I brought you some." She then stretched out one of her hands, presenting Ren with a treat.

"Nora, that is nice of you, but I was just talking to Weiss." Ren said, gesturing over to the person in question.

Weiss was prepared to politely introduce herself, no matter the irritation, but Nora didn't even give her the slightest opportunity to do so, as she immediately spoke again.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know you found yourself a friend already. You are always so moody and withdrawn." She then turned her attention over to Weiss and without drawing another breath, she resumed speaking. "Hi, I'm Nora. You are Weiss, yes? That makes me think, do you want some ice cream too? I can bring you some if you want."

Normally, Weiss would politely refuse such an offer from somebody who wasn't her servant, but truth be told, she really didn't want to deal with that girl right now.

"If you could…" She didn't have to finish that sentence, as Nora disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared half a minute ago. It almost didn't seem like she was moving, but instead teleported leaving a gush of wind behind.

Well… that was a thing.

"That was Nora." Ren said, somewhat redundantly. "I am sorry if she gets on your nerves."

"Not really." Weiss lied. "She seems like a nice person. Are you two… together?"

Ren shook his head. "No, no in that way. But we have been friends for a very long time."

Interesting. Weiss could swear there was something romantic going on between the two, but she wasn't going to push the topic.

"So, in the meantime, why won't we find some place to sit down." Weiss offered and found herself surprised when Ren shook his head once more.

"I don't see any seat nearby. Besides, I don't think we will be waiting that long."

"I'm sorry, but why would you…" Weiss started, but before she could finish her question an ice cream was shoved in her face. She instinctively took a step back and, upon gaining a better perspective, she saw Nora standing before her with an aforementioned ice cream in her hand.

What? How did she manage to arrange it so quickly? Even if she really had some super-speed sort of semblance, it would still take her more than half a minute to make a purchase.

"Here you go!" Nora said cheerfully, waiting for Weiss to accept the gift. The heiress slowly took the ice cream out of the redhead's hand, though she felt far too awkward to start eating it at the moment.

Nora didn't seem to notice how uneasy Weiss was, and if she did, she certainly didn't care very much, as she stuffed the other ice cream into Ren's hand and resumed speaking just a second later.

"So, friends, what are we going to do this lovely day?" She asked, and then immediately followed that by answering her own question. "Oh, I know! How about we go hunting for the Grimm in the forest? It's going to be so much fun!"

Weiss stared at the girl for a second. This suggestion was, frankly, devoid of any kind of sanity. It was not only dangerous - because who knew what kind of Grimm they would encounter - but also ran counter to the very reason they were at Beacon right now. They needed to perform their best during the initiation and losing energy and ammunition to some random Grimm was detrimental to that.

The heiress looked at Ren, hoping that he would point out one of these problems. Instead, to her horror, the man shrugged, as if he was indifferent to the idea.

"We might as well. What will you say to that, Weiss?"

The girl in question found it hard to find a suitable answer. Which one of the many reasons for not wanting to participate in this hunt was she supposed to give? Or should she make up some excuse these two would understand despite their apparent insanity?

"Oh, you are scared, aren't you?" Nora asked and, without giving Weiss time to answer, she pulled the two other students into a collective hug. "Don't worry, we can protect you and we will. We are buddies after all, right?"

No. Weiss had just changed her mind – dealing with Ren and Nora wasn't worth it after all, no matter how strong or attractive they were.

"Actually, I think I need to repair my weapon." Weiss went with the first plausible-sounding excuse she could think of. "I won't be able to join you today. Maybe some other time."

"Oh, that's a shame." Nora expressed her disappointment while loosening her grip on Weiss. "Well, if you ever want to hang out, just tell us!"

"I sure will." Weiss lied and, with some effort, pried herself off from Nora's embrace. She then hurryingly walked away, murmuring something incoherent in response to Ren's 'Goodbye'. She just wanted to get as far away from this duo as possible.

After she had gained some distance from her new friends, she threw an ice cream into a garbage bin. She did not really like the stuff and she was worried, rationally or not, that eating something given to her by Nora was hazardous. The girl did seem like she was high on some sort of drug, though it might well have been her natural state as well.

Was Beacon some kind of madhouse? Or had Weiss' bad luck manifested by having her run into people like this? In any case, she would probably spend the next several hours training alone. In some safe, Grimm-free manner that is.

She had just about enough socializing for one day.

 _/-/_

Weiss was walking towards the ballroom which, for this night, was supposed to serve as a bedroom of sorts for the prospective students. She had spent the rest of the day in the shooting gallery and barely bothered to talk to anyone while there. It was probably a bad move from a tactical standpoint, but she just couldn't bring herself to care very much.

She had been in Beacon for just a couple of hours and she was already extremely frustrated. The prospective students there were all either annoying or had someone annoying glued to them. If there was someone who would make a good partner, Weiss hadn't met them yet. She just hoped that Jaune was having at least as much trouble as she did.

After a while, she reached her destination. There were already several students present in the hall, some already dressed in pajamas, others not. There were no beds around, so presumably the students were supposed to sleep in the bedding they brought with themselves or on the floor. Weiss, of course, had a sleeping bag of the highest quality with her, though the conditions still irritated her a little bit.

Another problem was how there were no changing rooms in sight, which meant that the students were expected to change their clothing in the main room. Perhaps that was another sort of test – after all, from what Weiss knew, the teams were not segregated by gender and its members were expected to sleep in the same rooms. Huntsmen were supposed to trust each other at all times, so while it was inconvenient, it made some amount of sense.

Weiss didn't have much of a problem with that. She wasn't ashamed of her body, even though she wished she her breasts were a little bit more developed. In any case, she didn't show any embarrassment as she changed into her sleeping dress.

More students were entering the ballroom with each minute, but Weiss wasn't interested in talking with any of them. She was tired and really just wanted to sleep. She would need it before the initiation, so it wasn't a bad strategy on her part. She found herself a nice, quiet corner, stretched her bedroll there and jumped into it.

However, she found herself unable to sleep just like that. She wasn't as tired physically as she was mentally and the scenarios of how things could go wrong the following day kept going through her head. She didn't know much about how the initiation would look like - it was said to be different each year - so she couldn't really calm her nerves in a logical manner. She had felt fairly confident before, but lying there she realized that there was no guarantee that her skills would be sufficient. For all she knew, the headmaster could just order the initiates to fight each other and Weiss would be set against someone who countered her style perfectly. Or, perhaps, the teams and leaders were actually selected randomly and she would end up with Ruby as her leader for the next four years.

If that happened, Weiss would seriously consider quitting.

After about half an hour of stifling, Weiss heard somebody walk up to her.

"I'm sorry, are you feeling well? You look anxious." A female voice said, causing Weiss to mentally smack herself. Was she really so nervous that somebody decided to check if she was alright? The people who saw her probably thought it was merely because she was scared of what the next day would bring. That wasn't exactly a stellar reputation she was building.

Weiss scrambled from her sleeping bag, deciding that it was worth the effort. She saw a tall girl in a pajama, with red hair – not orange like Nora's but crimson red – and green eyes which were now looking down on the heiress with visible concern.

"I am alright. I have trouble sleeping sometimes." Weiss said. "Sorry for making you concerned."

"That's fine. I was just looking for a spot to sleep anyway. Mind if I lie down around here?"

Weiss nodded and watched the girl put down her own sleep sack and stretch it on the floor. Afterwards she lied down and covered herself, but she would still look at Weiss at moments with those emerald eyes of hers.

Wait…

Did Pyrrha Nikos just chat up to her? Yes, it appeared so. It was sort of hard to recognize the champion in that clothing, as opposed to the golden armor she wore into battle, but it was her. Very long red hair, emerald-green eyes and an athletic build. Miss Nikos at her finest.

And Weiss had as good as ignored her. She had given Nikos a copout answer and made no effort to continue the conversation. Maybe Weiss was an idiot after all, or maybe it was tiredness kicking in. Either way, it stood to reason that she should say something.

"The initiation is tomorrow. Are you feeling confident?" It wasn't the most elegant way to start a conversation, but Weiss couldn't come up with anything better at the moment.

"I would say yes. I don't know what we will be facing, but I am reasonably prepared." Putting it mildly. If Pyrrha Nikos proved herself unable to pass the entrance exam, it would mean that it was way too hard for any prospective students to complete. She was the heir of a cup, no question about that.

That was why forming a positive relationship with her was so crucial. Even if they didn't end up on the same team, it would be good not to make an enemy out of the strongest person in the school.

"I think myself good enough as well." Weiss said, trying to sound casual. "I'm Weiss, by the way."

 _Still somewhat awkward. Get a hold of yourself, Weiss._

Pyrrha didn't seem as if she associated the name with the Schnee family. She was likely just feigning obliviousness for the sake of being polite. After all, if she didn't knew who Weiss was, why would she had approached her like that? Out of concern for a random student and a potential rival? Yeah, right.

"It's Pyrrha. Nice to meet you Weiss." The redhead responded, and seemed like she wanted to add something, but then her eyes focused on something behind Weiss. The heiress turned her head, hoping to see what was that about.

By now, the hall was full of students of both genders. A group of male ones was trying to show off their muscles by going about shirtless, which Weiss found somewhat silly. They were huntsmen, they relied on aura for their strength, not muscles. And if they wanted to impress some girls, then they were doing poorly due to looking rather childish.

…Weiss did appreciate the sight though. No reason not to.

Pyrrha didn't seem interested in the main group, instead focusing on a lone, blonde… ugh, and there was the wannabe usurper.

Of course Jaune would be there, the ballroom was where all the students would sleep. Like many of his peers he was dressed only in long pants – a shame he hadn't brought his onesie with him - but he wasn't trying to show himself off from the looks of it. In fact, he looked a bit sullen as he put his sleeping bag down.

Weiss wondered how had he spent his day from the speech onwards and whether he did better than her. He could had hardly done worse, unless he tried his luck with seduction that is, but she hoped her brother hadn't managed to gain too much of an advantage on the first day.

It appeared as though Pyrrha recognized Jaune, judging from how firmly her stare was fixed on him.

"That is my dear brother Jaune. We came to Beacon together." Weiss informed Pyrrha, causing her to blink and turn towards the heiress again.

"Oh, sorry. He is just…" Pyrrha sounded as though she was trying to avoid talking about something. Weiss raised her eyebrow at that.

"It's nothing. Sorry." The redhead sighed. "So, are you two going to try and get into one team?"

No, at least Weiss wouldn't. It was an interesting prospect – if she was made a leader of such a team, she would likely get a lot of opportunities to outshine Jaune later on. The same went the other way, however, and Weiss couldn't rule out her brother being chosen as a team leader over her. She didn't want to put everything on one card. And besides, having to deal with Jaune on daily basis would be a bother in and of itself.

"I do not think so. I would rather meet some new people while here and not have to deal with him of all people."

"I would gladly make some new friends as well." Pyrrha said quietly, pushing it a little. As a famous athlete she was very unlikely to suffer from loneliness, so she wouldn't be fooling anyone with lines such as that.

"Why are you talking about him like that though?" Pyrrha asked, presumably talking about Jaune. Weiss was prepared to list all of her brother's worst qualities, but she luckily bit her tongue in time.

 _Do not explode again. Not at her._

"Me and Jaune have our disagreements." Weiss said, making a serious understatement. "It's not something I would like to talk about."

"Of course. Sorry for asking."

"No hard feelings." Weiss dug herself back into a sleeping bag, reasoning that there was no need for further conversation by now. Pyrrha had basically said that she wanted the two of them to be friends. "Well, thanks for checking on me, Wake me up, if you get up sooner than me. I like being up early."

"Good night then." Pyrrha said nodding. She then lied down on her side, confirming that she didn't feel a need to talk anymore.

Weiss mentally congratulated herself. It appeared as she finally managed to have a normal conversation with somebody who was both sane and competent. If she kept that up from now on, she would probably be able to completely outshine Jaune in no time.

Weiss looked at her adopted brother again. He was now lying in his bedroll as well, either sleeping already or trying to fall asleep. She liked him better this way, when he was not constantly eyeing his surroundings for threats and forming gods knew what schemes in his head.

Maybe Weiss was being too harsh on him. He probably had good intentions in trying to take over the company, but good intentions meant little in the grand scheme of things. Not only was Jaune hardly competent enough to run a global company, he was just too… compliant. He always wanted their father's attention more than either of his sisters and Weiss could definitely see him replicating him in how he ran a business. And if he somehow wouldn't follow Jacques' footsteps right away, then he would eventually give in to the pressure of the environment, that environment being a bunch of snobs concerned only with profit and prestige.

That's why she needed to win. She was fine with Jaune being a successful huntsman, but him taking over the Schnee Dust Company would undoubtedly be a bad thing for Remnant. Weiss couldn't and wouldn't let that happen, not as long as she had something to say on the matter.

And with that thought in mind, Weiss felt into slumber.

* * *

 **Now, before someone points out that Weiss here is much more rude and obstinate than in canon – yes, I know. And no, I am not writing her like that because I dislike her. I just figured she would be likely to act like this given the circumstances.**

 **Because let's face it, Weiss is entitled as hell. It took her quite a while to get over Ruby being chosen as a team leader instead of her and it wasn't like Ruby trying to rub it in her face or anything. Weiss was angry because someone took something that she perceived as hers. Here, someone really IS trying to take something from Weiss and, from her perspective at least, is going to use it in all the wrong ways if he succeeds. That is bound to make her grumpy.**

 **I already had one review that pointed out that, canonically, Weiss only wants to take over the company to make it better and shouldn't be fighting with Jaune over it. I have to say, it seems like a pretty idealized picture of Weiss. It assumes that she has no selfish reasons to want the SDC in her hands and that she would have no problems trusting another person with it, as long as they are not Whitley. It is not a portrayal I find accurate and certainly not one I find useful for my purposes.**

 **Anyways, I cannot give you the exact date for when the next chapter will be published. I know I am going to post chapters to the other stories first, but those are already partially written, so maybe I will manage to do everything in a reasonable timespan.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Fourth chapter. Sorry it took me so long to write it. I don't really have an excuse, so let's just get started.**

* * *

 _Jaune was hiding in the wardrobe of the now empty house, hoping that it would offer him some protection. He didn't think it would - these monsters were very strong and there were more of them than he could count. But it was better than staying out in the open and waiting for them to eat him._

 _Hide. That was easily the best choice, the best strategy. Jaune knew he had no chance to outrun these monsters, let alone fight them off. His father, the powerful huntsmen he was, wasn't able to hold off all of them and none of his sisters were able to run quite fast enough..._

 _No. He should not think about it. He remembered what his father told him about the Grimm. Thinking bad thoughts drew them towards him. Jaune had to avoid thinking about what just happened if he wanted to have any hope of surviving._

 _That wasn't easy though. Seeing all these people die in such a way, to the monsters' claws and teeth... it was easily the scariest thing he has seen in his life. And the knowledge that he could soon end up that way as well made him want to cry loudly._

 _But there was nobody that would hear him. Nobody that would help him at least._

 _Die. Not in eighty years' time, but perhaps just few minutes from now. Jaune knew everyone died eventually, his parents explained that to him not so long ago, but to think that it could happen in any moment was... terrifying? Horrifying? Was there a right word for that kind of fear?_

 _Damn it, he was thinking bad thoughts again. He had to stop. He could already hear something moving in the house and, judging from how much noise it was making, it wasn't a human._

 _He stopped breathing. He didn't know if it would help, but he had to do something to increase his chances. He heard the sounds get louder, as though the thing was getting closer to him..._

 _And then he heard the shot._

Jaune Schnee woke up in his bedroll. He was covered in sweat, though unlike yesterday, it wasn't because of the motion sickness. This time, it was an effect of fear and panic he had to go through.

Damn it... he hadn't had nightmares for a long time. It was inconvenient that one had to take place now of all nights, but it also made sense. Coming to Beacon did generate a lot of stress and anxiety and that wasn't a prerequisite for nice dreams.

After looking around, Jaune realized that it was morning anyways. Some people had already woken up, or were just now getting up from their beddings, but most prospective students were still lying on the floor. Unless he had been screaming in his sleep or something, it was unlikely anyone noticed him acting strangely. It was good - better if nobody thought he had some sort of mental problems.

Because he didn't have any. Yes, he had nightmares from time to time, but that was a given considering the crap he went through.

Jaune couldn't help but try to remember the times before the attack. He had been living in Ansel, a relatively small settlement on the borders of Vale. It was protected by Damien Arc, a renowned huntsman who was able to protect the town from most threats. He apparently felt secure enough there to start the family and have several children - four daughters and a single son.

Jaune didn't remember that much about his biological family or his life back then in general. Most of he knew was either guesswork or data he read many years afterwards, both of which provided him with limited information.

Not that it mattered by now. Ansel had been completely and utterly destroyed by the Grimm and only a few residents managed to survive. His father tried to hold the monsters off but, for whatever reason, the horde that attacked the settlement was unusually large. Though he undoubtedly did his best, Damien Arc had fallen in battle that day, and most of his family followed him into the grave.

Not Jaune though. That was no achievement of his own, of course - he just got lucky that night, at least when compared to most people in Ansel. He managed to escape the slaughter in the town center and hide in one of the houses. Somehow, the Grimm didn't manage to find him until the armed help arrived and managed to rescue what few survivors there were.

Now, Arcs were a fairly big family. Now that Jaune looked back at it, there must have been some relatives who would take him in. If Jacques wanted to act selflessly, he would have adopted one of the several orphans from Ansel who really didn't have anywhere to go. But he wasn't being selfless, or at least not entirely - and was he ever? He wanted to be visible, he wanted opportunities for creating more connections to the other well-known families and, perhaps more than anything, he wanted a son who would be a viable candidate for inheriting his company, should both of his daughters prove inadequate.

Not that Jaune held it against his foster father. Yes, taking the young Arc in was a strategic move on his part and sure, he had his fair share of flaws. He was far too focused on his job and said job wasn't exactly an honest business. Weiss prided herself on being aware how screwed up the Schnee Dust Company was and wishing to improve it, but Jaune wasn't blind either. There were many people out there who had been in some way hurt by his father's dealings.

The difference between him and Weiss was, in that case, that he was being less naive about what should be done. If Jaune wanted to make things even a little bit better, he had to compromise. Not to oppose their father, not to try to make any radical changes to how things were. After all, while the SDC was responsible for many bad things, it was still the largest dust supplier in Remnant. It had to stay operational for the good of the world, even if that meant engaging in _some_ dishonest practices.

He and Weiss would often argue about that. His sister seemed convinced that he only believed what he did because it was partially in line with his father's wishes. And fair enough, she could think that. But she was wrong and Jaune wouldn't let her take over their family company.

Going to Beacon together was their idea for settling the score. Both of them could have decided not to train as huntsmen or just go to Atlas instead. But attending Beacon together was a more elegant solution. For once, the rules and the battlefield for their little game were all clear. Whoever won would get the full prize. Whoever lost - and it wouldn't be him hopefully - would get to become a huntsmen anyways.

Well, as long as they graduated. And passed the initiation in the first place.

Jaune stood up, stretched his muscles, grabbed the clothes he had prepared and went in the direction of the showers. He would need to be fresh for the big event after all. Right now, he was actually grateful that he had been woken up earlier than usual, as it allowed him to avoid the crowds and wash himself in relative peace.

Showering took him a few minutes, after which he headed for the cafeteria. It was a spacious room with large windows and a high ceiling. While there weren't that many people there at that hour, the place was still pretty loud thanks to a singular girl making quite a lot of noise.

She had ginger hair, a pink-white outfit and, like pretty much all the woman in Beacon, looked pretty damn hot. Sadly - or maybe fortunately given Jaune's record in that area - she already had a male companion. A tall and seemingly quiet boy, who was now making pancakes on a kitchen plate. It was sort of weird, as there was food provided for them in the stands, but maybe he was just afraid of being poisoned, like some businessmen did. Or just like preparing his own meals, like some normal people did.

"I'm telling you, we need to get into the same team together somehow. We cannot be on different teams. The team on which I will be has to contain you as well, and your team needs to have me in it."

"Nora, you just said the same thing four times." The boy commented, his sight still focused on the cooking plate.

"Well good. It means you will not forget that. Oh hey!" The girl, Nora as she was apparently called, noticed Jaune approaching and ran up to him, outstretching her hand. "We were getting kind of lonely there. Most people around here are total lazybuds. Name's Nora, nice to meet you!"

Jaune was taken aback by... well, everything about that greeting, but he still shook Nora's hand. There were only two hours or so until the initiation and it would surely pay off to actually know some participant save for Weiss and Ruby.

"My name is Jaune. Jaune Schnee" He introduced himself and awaited a reaction of some sorts - his encounter with Blake on the plaza taught him that it was better to get that part out of the way quickly.

"I am Lie Ren. You can use the last name." The boy didn't try to shake hands with Jaune, as he remained focused on the cooking, but he gave him a polite nod of his head.

"Nice to meet you both. And I wish you luck in a few hours."

"Is that smart of you though?" Nora asked, the tone of her voice changing so that it became quieter and almost ominous. "What if we use that luck to get ahead of you? What if our luck causes you not to pass the exam, or to get eaten by a Beowolf, or to drop your ice cream on the floor? Have you thought about that, dear mister?"

Well, that girl was certainly expressive. Still, she seemed nicer to be around than most people Jaune interacted with over the course of his life, such as vultures who wanted nothing but an opportunity to mooch off a Schnee or entitled snobs that made Weiss look like a nice person in comparison. He could put up with Nora.

"Well, you will need all the luck in the world if you want to keep up with me." Jaune stated in a tone that made it clear how little he meant what he said. "I'm one of the very best, in my age category anyway."

"You know, that boast would have sounded a lot better without the last part." Nora commented.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not very good at being cool." Jaune joked.

"Eh, I think you're pretty cool. Much cooler than..." Nora paused, as though she wasn't sure if she was allowed to say something out loud. Jaune raised his eyebrows in response.

"I think we met your sister yesterday." Ren explained. "It didn't go very well."

"Oh. I apologize for her, whatever happened." Jaune replied, trying not to show a tinge of satisfaction those news brought him. Apparently Weiss hadn't had an easy time socializing either.

"She didn't do anything wrong, really. She just couldn't handle Nora very well. It happens." Ren said and then threw Nora pancake, which she caught in her mouth and immediately devoured. She didn't appear to care about the comment Ren made regarding her, as she simply held a thumb up thanking for the meal.

"Anyways," Nora said after the pancake passed through her throat. "If you want, we might save you a spot on our team. Right Ren?"

"If possible." Ren shrugged. "We intend to get into one team, by the way."

"I figured as much." Jaune answered with a smile. "And thank you for the offer. I don't really have anyone here with whom I want to get paired up with."

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Jaune actually counted on being paired up with Ruby - aside from having an impressive weapon, the girl simply seemed nice to be around. She touched upon a sensitive topic, but that wasn't her fault in the slightest and he wouldn't have reacted this way if not for the circumstances. And naturally, he would welcome a chance to get into one team with Pyrrha Nikos, who, to his knowledge, would be taking part in this year's initiation as well.

Still, Ren and Nora didn't seem like they would be bad teammates either. Jaune didn't know anything specific about their combat skills, but since they didn't appear nervous in the slightest, he assumed that they were at least moderately good fighters.

"Hey, the most important thing is that we all have fun!" The girl said with a smile.

"And that we pass the exam." Ren rectified.

"Yeah, there's that too." Nora admitted and then turned back towards her food.

In time, more people started to enter the cafeteria, but Jaune didn't feel a need to stay there for too long. Crowded mesa wasn't a best place to talk anyway. After eating a simple meal and exchanging some parting words with Ren and Nora, he exited and marched towards the locker room.

/-/

It took Jaune an embarrassing amount of time to find his locker amidst all the others. He would love to be able to say that it was due to illogical layout or something like that, but the truth was he simply forgot the number he had been assigned.

Still, he found it eventually. All of his equipment was still there - Crocea Mors with its sheath, a small med-kit that would come in handy if he had to disinfect a wound or set a bone straight and a backpack, which could potentially prove very valuable this day.

Jaune pulled everything out of the locker and began putting it on it. After a few moments he stood fully prepared for battle, armor polished, backpack on, med-kit strapped to his waist next to the sheath and a sword in his hand. An ancient blade fit his hand perfectly, light enough for him to swing freely, heavy enough to pack some punch if it connected.

It wasn't an ultimate weapon or anything. It was extremely well-made, of course, but all it meant was that it was less likely to break and was easy to sharpen. Indeed, Jaune would sometimes wonder whether he should get some other weapon, something that would provide him with a ranged option or enabled him to use dust or even just had some other form he could switch to in the middle of the fight. But at the end of the day, he felt too attached to the simple blade to just replace it like that. It was one of the few things he had left of his original family. It was his legacy.

And besides, having a regular sword as your weapon had its advantages. If nothing else, Crocea Mors was reliable. It wouldn't jam, wouldn't run out of ammo and it didn't have any glaring flaws like some melee weapons had. Ruby's scythe was impressive and Jaune could imagine it worked great against the Grimm, but an intelligent combatant could simply get into close range and remain there, rendering the weapon as good as useless. You had to be at the exactly right distance to get a really good swing with something like that. A longsword was much simpler to manage - you just stabbed your opponent whenever you could and parried his strikes whenever you had to.

After reassuring himself like that for a bit, Jaune headed towards the exit from the locker room. He wanted to arrive on the spot earlier than necessary in order to scout out the area and maybe form some specific strategy before the actual event began. On his way he saw several other students put on their equipment, but he didn't know any of them - not personally, nor as accomplished fighters - so he didn't really see any benefit in talking to them.

Until he reached the door, that is.

Two girls were just entering into the locker room. One was tall, blonde and _very_ well built. She managed to catch and dominate Jaune's attention, to the point where it took him a moment to notice the other girl.

Ruby. Just like the day before, she wore a black dress with an ammo belt wrapped around it. She didn't have her weapon at hand though, presumably only now coming to pick it up from the locker. Upon seeing him, Ruby stopped in her tracks and stood there for a moment as if she was unsure if she should greet him.

Jaune beat her to it. He smiled and extended his hand towards her, showing that he both recognized her from yesterday and that they were still on friendly terms. He felt sort of guilty for leaving her at the auditorium back then - it must have seemed as though he felt insulted or something like that, whereas he really just needed a while to think back then.

"Hey Ruby, nice to see you." He went for an informal greeting, knowing that there was no point trying to sound serious in this situation.

"Oh, hi Jaune!" The brunette replied, her expression lightening. Upon hearing the other girl cough meaningfully, she added: "That's my sister Yang. We're half sisters, in case you're wondering. If you don't, then I guess there was no reason to tell you."

The blonde didn't even wait for Ruby to stop talking. She stepped forwards, outstretching a hand towards Jaune.

"Nice to meet you." She said, flashing a smile that was almost enough to make the boy blush. "You must be that Jaune guy my sis told me about. Gotta say, you do live up to the description."

"That would be me." Jaune shook Yang's hand. "Just out of curiosity, what did Ruby tell you about me?"

"All the compliments. She seemed really excited to make a friend in Beacon." Yang responded and then added in a loud whisper: "She won't admit it, but I think she has a crush on you."

"Yang!" Ruby whined.

"Nah, I don't work that fast." Jaune couldn't stop himself from blushing, but he stood his ground nonetheless. "Still, it's good to know that you hold me in such a high regard."

"I'll give you a piece of friendly advice." The blonde replied. "If you are going to use lines like that, try to be less formal. That sort of language is kind of off-putting."

"You think that's off-putting? My pick-up lines are usually even worse than that." Jaune said and then quickly added: "Not like I'm trying to flirt now or anything. You just, you know, started this weird game and I felt obliged to play it."

"What, would you like to play some other game?" Yang couldn't help but snicker this time. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"You don't seem very sorry." Jaune pointed out.

"You 're just imagining it." Yang shrugged. "Anyways, how are you feeling? Nervous at all?"

"A little bit." Jaune admitted. "But I do trust my weapons and skills and I highly doubt the challenge will be something I cannot handle."

"Yeah, me too!" Ruby, who thus far was passively listening to the conversation and seemingly failing to understand a single sentence, now happily joined in. "Just coming to pick up the Crescent Rose. With it, I'm going to kill any Grimm they throw at us, or whatever they throw at us, really."

"I'm sure you will." Jaune reassured her and then turned back towards Yang. "And how confident are you feeling right now?"

"I'm good. My weapons are pretty cool as well and I am one of the strongest people here." Somehow, that sentence felt less like a boast and more like stating a simple fact. While Jaune would normally not treat a statement like that as a proof of strength, it felt pretty believable in her case alone.

Another suitable teammate?

"Are you two going to try and get into the same team?" Jaune kept asking questions, now that the greetings and initial exchanges were out of the way.

"I don't know." Ruby replied. "I suppose I'll try to get into Yang's team if possible."

Jaune was initially surprised that Ruby didn't already know for certain in what team she wanted to be in, but then he recalled that not everybody was perceiving Beacon as a battleground for some twisted game. Ruby probably wouldn't care whether her teammates were above or below average or whether or not she would be made a team leader. She would be happy in any team made up of decent people and would do her best to get along with that team.

He wished he could have that attitude as well.

"Actually, how about you try and find some other team?" Yang suddenly suggested. "I bet it would help you make some more friends."

"Don't start with that now." Ruby groaned. "You're embarrassing me in front of a friend."

"Actually, I think I'll leave you to it." Jaune said, walking towards the door. "Nice talking with you and good luck."

"Wait." Yang said, looking at him with confusion. "Where are you going, exactly?"

"To the initiation. Where else would I be going right now?"

"But we don't know where it will take place." Yang pointed out. "We are supposed to wait for an announcement."

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Jaune was met with two shaking heads. "Since we are attending a huntsmen academy, it stands to reason that they would like to test us in combat, preferably with the Grimm. And luckily, there is a forest full of these right outside of Beacon's walls, as well as a nice, distinctive cliff overlooking the whole thing. So that's where I'm going."

"Well you can't be sure that's the place." Yang commented.

 _"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for intimation?_ A voice came out of the speakers. _Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately._

Yang glared at Jaune.

"Oh look, I'm a prophet." Jaune said, not being able to stop a triumphant smile from appearing on his face.

"Your prophetic powers won't help you fight the Grimm, will they?"

"I think I'll still manage." Jaune shrugged. "If I arrive on time, that is. See you at the cliffs."

"See ya." Ruby said and then ran into the locker room, in a hurry to get her weapon. Yang didn't feel any need to be so hasty - there was probably a decent time window before the announcement and the start of initiation despite the 'immediately' part - but she went into the room as well and, after waving Jaune goodbye and flashing one last smile, disappeared among the lockers.

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. That conversation has proven itself quite stressful, as he had to fight an urge to stare at Yang's cleavage as well as the urge to be a smart ass, the latter of which he failed by explaining his reasoning in detail like that.

It was striking how much the other students differed from him and the people he was used to dealing with. They weren't exactly dumb - a good fighter needed to be cunning on top of being strong, and most of the initiates were great or even amazing fighters. They just didn't think ahead, or rather didn't think far enough ahead. Most of them would only start to strategize once they had their enemy in sight and even then, chances were they would stick to a limited assort of tactics. They didn't prepare far-reaching plans and they weren't trying to win battles before they began.

Jaune did. As he walked out the locker room and headed towards the exit from the school, he kept considering his options regarding choosing a team. He didn't know that many other students, but the few he did get to know all looked like good picks.

On one side there was the sisterly duo of Ruby and Yang and on the other were Ren and Nora, whoever they were to each other. Both pairs were made up of seemingly good fighters and both already had a bad history with Weiss, which would prevent his sister from performing some kind of sabotage on his team. Jaune considered Ruby to be something of a friend, but Ren and Nora seemed really nice either, so the two options were more or less even in the social aspect of things.

All taken into consideration, Jaune would probably go for Ren and Nora as his teammates. Not only did they informally agreed to form a team with him should the occasion arise, they possessed a quality that would be very useful to Jaune in his current situation.

They would make terrible team leaders.

While having strong teammates was a priority in the long run, being selected as leader was an instant prestige boost that Jaune wouldn't say 'no' to. And, going by their personalities, neither Ren nor Nora had any real chance of being assigned that position. The former seemed too withdrawn and passive to make for a good field leader, while the latter might or might not have been mentally unstable. Not to mention, appointing either of them as a leader was bound to lead to some favoritism arising. Unless his third teammate proved exceptionally talented, teaming up with Ren and Nora would earn Jaune a leader spot just like that. Given his goals, that seemed like a correct choice.

But then again, by thinking so far ahead, Jaune was making some major assumptions. He assumed that he had some level of control over how the teams were chosen, that he had an accurate picture of others' traits and abilities and, most of all, that he would survive the initiation.

Perhaps he was wrong to create such far-reaching plots. Regardless of his overarching goals, Jaune had a clear purpose for the first day of school.

Try not to die.

/-/

The sky was mostly clear on the initiation day, with only a few while clouds circling above the Emerald Forest. Weak wind was blowing, providing solace from sun's heat and gently shaking the millions of leaves in the forest. The only thing that this scenery lacked were the birds singing cheerfully - instead of those, there were juvenile Nevermores circling in the air and serving as a grim reminder of what exactly the initiates have gathered for.

Jaune currently stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the forest below. He somewhat regretted arriving so early, as there was no real chance to scout out the terrain - the trees were packed far too densely for him to see anything from afar. Instead of doing anything useful, Jaune simply stood there with three of four other students who wanted to avoid being late, Headmaster Ozpin drinking yet another cup of coffee and the Deputy Head, looking at them sternly as though she expected them to do something stupid at any moment. She didn't seem to trust the future protectors of humanity to manage themselves, it seemed.

Gradually, more people were arriving at the scene. They had varied appearances and armaments but, in a way, they all looked alike. Teenagers armed to the teeth, faking confidence in the face of a challenge. Most of them Jaune didn't know, with a few exceptions of course.

There were Ren and Nora, neither of them seeming as if they had to fake any confidence. Ren seemed calm and collected, while Nora seemed happy and cheerful in the face on danger. Neither of them seemed particularly concerned about what would happen in the near future and they both seemed as though they had it all handled. One more reason to try and partner with one of them... though they would probably find a way to partner with each other, so if he wanted to get on one team with them, he should find himself some other partner and then try to get everyone into a team.

There were Yang and Ruby, now with their weapons equipped and ready for combat. Ruby seemed somewhat nervous, but probably less so than most other students really were. Yang, on the other hand, didn't appear bothered at all. She confidently walked over to the edge of the cliff, winking at Jaune on her way there - he probably blushed a little at that - and took her place on one of the platforms. Her sister did the same, but without making any suggestive gestures - she only waved her hand at Jaune before taking position.

There was Pyrrha Nikos, whom Jaune recognized instantly, despite never having seen her in person. A gold-plated armor, shield and spear on the back and ridiculously long, crimson hair. Yup, the Champion of Mistral herself. Jaune wondered if she had already arranged to partner up with somebody, but trying to chat up to her now would be pointless.

And, of course, there was Weiss. Dressed in her usual combat outfit, entering the scene with nothing less than absolute confidence. With her universal semblance, a weapon worth its weight in gold and admittedly impressive skill set, she had little to be afraid of. She would pass the initiation, and so would Jaune in all likelihood. The question was, who would end up looking better while doing so.

Before taking her place, Weiss gave Jaune a piercing look, as though she was trying to tell him that whatever schemes he had prepared, they would inevitably fail. Jaune didn't really have any schemes prepared, but he nonetheless gave his sisters a look that said 'We'll see about that.'

The two of them were really good at giving specialized looks.

Once each of the platforms was occupied by somebody, Professor Ozpin cleared his throat. The gesture worked, as all the students' eyes immediately focused on him.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." He said formally, his eyes darting from one aspiring huntsmen to another. He already seemed to be judging them, even though the actual test was yet to begin.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' The Deputy Head said, also in a formal tone, but with a note of a 'stern teacher' thrown in there. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... **today**."

Not exactly a surprise. Teams being formed on the first day was one of the few things that stayed constant during all the years of Beacon Academy. The question was how exactly would the teams be formed this year, and the phrase 'given teammates' was pretty worrying.

"What? Ohhh..." Ruby expressed her dissatisfaction. Her feeling matched Jaune's fairly well, though if he was to express them, he would have done so in a more articulate manner.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin took the floor again. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby groaned in reaction to that, which struck Jaune as somewhat weird. She must have known that they would be working in teams, so complaining about it now seemed somewhat childish. Then again, Ruby did seem a little childish in general, no offense to her of course.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

That statement elicited a reaction from nearly everyone in the group, though Ruby's was once again the most audible with her surprised 'What!?'. Other students didn't seem particularly happy that the method of assigning partners was apparently mostly random, but none of them protested out loud.

Jaune wasn't really that bothered. Provided he would pay attention to were the other students land, he should manage to partner up with somebody he considered a passable teammate.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you **will** die."

Ironically, that comment didn't seem to worry anyone very much. Most students simply adjusted their positions and tightened their hands around their weapons. The exception was Nora, who looked like she had been was told that Christmas, Eastern and her birthday all came early this year.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Weiss and Jaune both raised their hands in response.

"Good. Now..." Ozpin didn't get to say much before being interrupted by the Schnee heiress.

"Excuse me, I have a question I'd like to ask."

"As I said, take your positions." The Headmaster apparently decided to ignore Weiss and proceed with the procedure. Bad move.

Clearly annoyed, the heiress took a stepped forward, leaving her platform. Jaune followed suite, also desiring some answers.

"Miss Schnee. Mr Schnee." The Deputy Head was clearly trying hard to sound stern and uncompromising. "You are supposed to follow instructions as they are given to you. Return to your designated tiles."

"We were signaled that asking questions was allowed." Weiss responded, her voice just as unflinching. "Since this is a serious matter, I demand that our questions are answered or, at the very least, listened to."

"I concur." Jaune joined the conversation. "Having us participate in a test with unclear rules and denying us explanation doesn't strike me as particularly fair."

Multiple students nodded in approval and several actually stepped down from their platforms as well. Yang was one them, though it probably wasn't because she wanted answers - she appeared simply amused with the situation.

Miss Goodwitch stood there for about a minute, glaring at the students with annoyance. Normally, that stare would be enough to intimidate all the teenagers into submission, but with Jaune and Weiss present it didn't have as much of an effect. Both Schnee siblings were trained to resist psychological techniques such as this and right now they served as an example for the rest.

If it was just one person speaking out, it wouldn't make much of a difference, as the other students would be too afraid to back that person up. But since they had seen Weiss, Jaune and Yang all step forward without being visibly afraid, they concluded that defying authority was safe in that particular instance.

Sighing in defeat, Miss Goodwitch turned to look at her superior. Ozpin's face betrayed no emotion, but the lack of immediate response implied that he was at least somewhat troubled by the situation. He took another sip from his cup and finally said: "What exactly do you wish to know?"

"You have explained how the partners will be chosen." Jaune was the first to speak. "But how will the teams be formed out of these pairs? Does it have something to do with those relics?"

"Your suspicions are correct, Mr Schnee." The Headmaster replied. "The teams will be formed out of these pairs that have chosen the same type of relic."

"And the grade?" Jaune kept on asking. "Does that impact the selection process in any way?"

"No." Ozpin replied. Jaune was taken aback by such a direct response, which allowed Weiss to take the floor.

"I take it the initiation involves a heightened level of danger. Legally speaking, what would happen if one of us received serious, or for that matter fatal injuries along the way?"

"Beacon Academy is obliged to take full responsibility for injuries and deaths that occur during the training." Miss Goodwitch replied, her voice perfectly neutral.

"I see. So, hypothetically speaking, I could accidentally unload a full canister of dust into a fellow student, significantly injuring them, and the school would face the legal consequences instead?"

Jaune shifted nervously in place. Did Weiss really want to be rid of him that much? It didn't seem all that improbable, in all honesty.

"It is quite probable that you would be able to avoid legal responsibility." Ozpin said, causing Jaune to reach for his weapon. "But we would have to remove you from the school immediately, for the safety of the other students."

Weiss paused for a moment, as though pondering whether or not getting rid of Jaune was worth being expelled, after which she nodded and stepped on her platform again.

"Any other questions?" The Deputy Head was clearly anxious to start.

"Do we get pancakes for being the first ones in the temple?" Nora asked.

"Are there any serious questions?"

Silence followed.

"Good. Now, will you please take your positions?"

Everyone, including Jaune, complied. No one asked why exactly they were supposed to step on the platforms - the setup made that abundantly clear.

Weiss' platform was the first to be activated. The girl was launched into the air at a blinding speed, white hair flowing in the wind. Someone less acquainted with landing strategies would be circling in the air chaotically, but Weiss had everything under control. She didn't even need to use her weapon for recoil - her glyphs were more than enough to manage the landing.

One by one, other students were launched off the cliff as well. Almost all of them had weapons that made the landing far easier and some also had semblances that aided them during the flight. Unfortunately, Jaune had neither, his weapon not having a gun installed and his semblance still not active. Fortunately, he had something that most of his peers lacked.

A bit of foresight.

Upon getting launched as well, Jaune did his best to maintain a steady flight. It allowed him to calculate his trajectory and pick a convenient moment, one when he was just starting to fall back down on the ground, then waited just a split second more for extra safety.

He then opened a parachute.

Luckily for him, the device worked as intended. It didn't halt down his fall quite as quickly as it was designed to - not for people in plate armor, that is - but it slowed him down enough so that his impact with the ground wouldn't be very damaging. Had he just allowed himself to fall freely and hit the ground equally freely, he would have probably needed to use most of his aura to cushion the impact, which would put him in a bad situation for the rest of the initiation in the best-case scenario.

That way, he would only lose about half a minute slowly falling back to the ground. It was a pretty pleasant feeling, really. For that short while he could relax, as the wind ruffled his hair, the sun gently warmed his back...

...and something crashed into him at a speed of a bullet.

Or rather someone. It appeared as another student slammed into him during their flight - there was no telling who, since they crashed into Jaune's back - probably not having expected such a drastic change in trajectory from him. Jaune mentally smacked himself. He really should had thought about such a scenario, and now he was paying the price for his relative short-sightedness.

And it was a hell of a price to pay. Right now, instead of falling gently towards the ground, he was flying towards it at a sharp angle and an uncomfortably fast speed. There was precious little he could do to minimize the effect of the impact, so he simply shielded his whole body with aura and hoped that the other person would do the same. Just before reaching the ground level, Jaune closed his eyes - they would be shielded as well, but it made him feel a tiny bit safer.

They landed amidst the trees, hitting a few branches along the way. Just as expected, the crash landing wasn't lethal, but it was still far from pleasant. Aura absorbed nearly all the damage, but it still hurt the same way getting shot in a bulletproof vest would. Moreover, they made a literal crater during the landing and the dirt managed to get under Jaune's armor, under his clothes and some even found its way into his mouth.

Gods, he must have looked truly ridiculous at that moment. Still, he completed his main objective, namely not to die. After another two or three seconds of sliding in the mud, he finally stopped.

He felt just as it could be expected after a landing like that. Nearly every part of his body was in pain, though his face got it particularly bad due to having taken the brunt of the impact. Cool, slightly wet dirt covered him now, almost making him shiver from the cold... though there was also a strange source of warmth touching his face.

After opening his eyes. Jaune was greeted to the sight of a leg right before his face. A female leg, one well-shaven and quite enticing, as he immediately noticed.

To his eternal embarrassment, Jaune shrieked loudly. At the same time he shot round, jumping a feet into the air and falling back down on a nearby patch of grass.

Luckily, the girl didn't seem very concerned about someone getting so close to her. She didn't even seemed all that bothered by the rough landing either. She casually got up, dusted off her clothes - not that it made much of a difference - and then walked up to Jaune with an outstretched hand.

"You're not Ren." Nora said with a sigh. "But you were my second choice anyway. Going to get up, partner?"

* * *

 **A few people were confused as to what kind of character Jaune is supposed to be. I suppose it's my fault for not establishing it earlier, but I hope this gives you a fair idea of what kind of person he is supposed to be. He's more cunning, charismatic and resourceful than the canon Jaune, but he is not a clone of Whitley either. Something in between, really. Good intentions, isn't an asshole for its own sake, but he has set goals and he will reach them no matter what.**

 **Another thing someone pointed out is that it would make more sense for Jaune to go study in Atlas, if he really wanted to sabotage Weiss. This is true technically speaking, but the situation presented is something of a prisoner dilemma - both siblings could gain an advantage by playing to Jacques' tune, but they choose not to so that, regardless of what happens, they both get a shot at getting a huntsman license and studying outside of their father's control. Again, my bad for not making that clear earlier.**

 **Hope that's all cleared up now. Since all the main cast has been already introduced, it's now time for hilarity to truly ensue. As you can see from the ending, I don't exactly intend to follow the canon in terms of who ends up in a team with whom, so that might be fairly interesting, if you can stand my writing that is.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yey, over one hundred favorites! That's more than some actually good stories have.**

 **Thanks for your attention and please enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

One Glyph to slow down. Second to adjust the angle. One more, to slow down just a little bit more. Weiss had spent a lot of her time practicing landing strategy and by now she could perform maneuvers such as that with nothing short of perfection. It was therefore no surprise when, after placing one last glyph, she landed on the forest ground with grace worthy of a Schnee.

Then again, there probably weren't any points for style awarded at the initiation. If Weiss wanted to get some actual advantage, she needed to stop mentally congratulating herself and find herself some decent partner - which could be hard with that silly 'eye contact' rule.

The heiress took a second to think her strategy through. Sadly, her landing technique required her to remain concentrated during her descent, so she wasn't able to accurately track everyone else's movements in the air. And since her high heels and snow-white outfit would make any attempts at sneaking past an undesirable person futile, Weiss was pretty much forced to let fate decide with whom she would end up getting partnered with.

Damned be the Headmaster for coming up with such an idiotic system. Thanks to him, all the effort Weiss had put into socializing during the past two days were essentially for naught. She couldn't even use bribery to convince some strong fighter to join up with her. Where was the fairness in that?

Still, the time for filing formal complaints against the school would have to come later. Right now she had to make the best of the less-than-perfect situation. She vaguely recalled that Pyrrha had been falling to the west of Weiss' current position, so it made sense to head in that particular direction. It raised her chance of ending up with someone useful as a partner, if only slightly.

Weiss began marching through the Emerald Forest. Aside from the juvenile Nevermore here and there, there were no Grimm within her sight. Presumably it would get more dangerous the closer she got to that temple - assuming that she would manage to find it, that is. Navigation and other survival techniques were never her strongest suit, as she never bothered to learn more than theory - something that, she had to admit, was a mistake on her part.

Just to be sure there was no easy way out, Weiss pulled out her scroll. There was no signal, despite her being in close proximity to Vale's CCT tower. Presumably there were some jammers installed nearby, preventing the initiates from using their devices to navigate or communicate with each other over extended distances. Had Weiss thought ahead and brought some walkie-talkies with her, she would be able to coordinate with her chosen teammates, but right now she had no method of long-range communication. Not one that she could think of anyways.

As Weiss was pondering what she should had done and what she ought to do now, she heard the gunshots coming from nearby. A lot of them. Either a group of students had already formed and was fighting some major threat, or someone was using automatic weaponry. It couldn't be Pyrrha, since her signature weapon was a semi-automatic rifle in its ranged form, but could still be someone good. Regardless, Weiss had to find a partner eventually, and coming to the rescue of a potentially overwhelmed student could very well earn her some extra points on the Headmaster's report.

The heiress put her scroll back into its designated pocket and ran in the direction the gunshots were coming from. These particular noises soon ceased, but other sounds could be heard in their place, such as the cracks of falling tress and hisses of what seemed to be particularly loud snake.

Upon reaching the source of the noises, her suspicions had been confirmed. In a small grassy clearing, a large two-headed King Taijitu was trying to smother a person whom Weiss recognized as Lie Ren, the man she had met in a corridor the day before. At the moment he was skillfully dodging the Grimm's attacks while simultaneously taking shots with two small handguns that made for his weapon. Contrary to what might have been expected, Nora didn't appear to be anywhere nearby. Apparently, these two hadn't managed to partner up with each other just yet. Interesting.

After several fruitless attempts and striking the young man down, one of the heads managed to find an opening and hit Ren out of the air, causing him to drop his weapons. Weiss took a stance and prepared to jump into the fray and save Ren if need be - though the perspective of ending up with someone who nearly got killed by a single King Taijitu wasn't very appealing to her.

Luckily, Ren proved himself perfectly capable of keeping up with the large Grimm, even after being devoid of his weapons. When the black head struck, aiming to impale its prey with large fangs, Ren faced it head-on. In an impressive display of aura-control, he created a shield to halt the incoming assault and then grabbed the snake's fangs with his bare hands.

Weiss watched, her eyes now wide open with surprise, as Ren tore both on the fangs right out of their respective sockets. The black head attempted yet another charge, but the student effortlessly avoided the attack and countered by stabbing one of the fangs into the Grimm's eye. He then delivered a vicious palm strike to the fang, causing it to surge through King Taijitu's skull and kill that part of the large Grimm in an instant.

Weiss found herself reasonably impressed. It appeared as though Ren was just as strong as she hoped he would be and was, currently, without a partner. He was no Pyrrha and having him as a partner would mean having to deal with Nora as well... but sometimes, you just couldn't have everything.

The snake's surviving head prepared to strike, just as Ren prepared to repel its assault. Neither of them, however, ended up getting a chance to do anything. Before the King Taijitu managed to launch an attack, Weiss was already in the air, propelled by several glyphs. She struck the serpent's head with Myrtenaster, damaging though not piercing its skull, and then unloaded the full canister of fire dust, further hurting the Grimm as well as propelling herself backwards using the recoil from the blast.

She landed, gracefully as always, right next to Ren. The young man scanned Weiss with his pink eyes, to which she responded by flashing him a slight, friendly smile. _That's right, I just came to your rescue. You're not going to be ungrateful and berate me simply for not being Nora now, will you?_

"Thanks for the help." Ren said after a moment's hesitation.

"You are welcome." Weiss replied. "Now, should we finish that thing off?"

King Taijitu, or rather what remained of it, didn't seem to be posing much of a threat anymore. Its only remaining head had been critically damaged by Weiss' attack, leaving the beast dazed and on the verge of collapsing.

Weiss didn't want to waste any more dust on the wounded Grimm, so she charged at it head on. Ren followed suite, grabbing his weapons and running towards the beast.

To its credit, King Taijitu tried to attack even despite its wounds. Sadly, its fangs managed only to strike the ground when both students dodged its attack - Weiss jumping to the right, her partner towards the left.

Immediately after dodging, Weiss spun ninety degrees and, with a quick thrust of the Myrtenaster, drove the blade into the Grimm's red eye. Ren did the same on his side, impaling the other eye with one of his razor-sharp blades. The serpent twitched in place for a while, before it finally turned motionless.

Weiss waited a couple seconds just to be sure. Only after seeing that King Taijitu started to dissipate, as all Grimm did upon their deaths, the heiress sheathed her rapier and walked over to her partner.

"It looks like we have dealt with one problem." She stated, aiming to get straight to business. Ren was more likely to accept her as a teammate if they started working together straight away. "Now we need to locate that temple the Headmaster told us about."

"That shouldn't be very hard." Ren replied, his weapons seamlessly sliding into his sleeves. "I think I've seen some structures when I was falling down. They should be to the north of us right now."

"I didn't see anything like that." Weiss admitted. "You must have good observational skills."

"Perhaps." Ren shrugged in response. "I'm fairly sure I can lead us right to the temple. But there is one thing..."

Weiss looked at her partner expectantly.

"Once we reach that place, we have to team up with another pair by choosing a Relic. Are we going to just form a team with the first two people who arrive to meet us, or are we going to wait for someone that fits us personally?"

Ah. Ren apparently still wanted to get his not-girlfriend on his team. It was inconvenient considering the kind , but Weiss could work around that.

"I'm not sure." Weiss said slowly. She was pretending to pretend to sound indifferent, so that her partner would perceive her words as a concession on her part. "I don't know many people here, so I'm not sure who would or wouldn't be a good teammate. If you'd like it, I can just leave that choice to you."

It wasn't a lie, not entirely at least. If it turned out that Nora was already in someone else's team by the time Weiss and Ren arrived, then the promise would be essentially meaningless, as the heiress' interests would line up with Ren's perfectly - to find powerful teammates, Pyrrha Nikos preferably being one of them. If Nora failed to arrive within a reasonable timespan, Weiss would probably manage to convince Ren that waiting further would endanger their chances at passing the initiation at all. And if Nora arrived on the scene with some unimpressive partner... well, then things got more messy, but depending on the circumstances there could still be a way for Weiss to avoid having the ginger girl as her teammate without downright breaking the promise.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Ren replied, seemingly unaware of how little his partner's words really meant when it came to the point. He then walked towards the edge of the clearing. "Follow me. We'll find a way somehow."

Weiss ignored the little twinge of indignation upon being told to follow and marched in Ren's footsteps. As they walked deeper into the forest, she couldn't help but look back at the past several minutes and congratulate herself on how smoothly things really went.

While the situation was by no means perfect, Weiss still found herself satisfied with how everything was unraveling. She already succeeded at finding herself a decent partner and earning his trust. Now she just had to complete the team in an acceptable manner.

Make sure that she wouldn't end up in one team with Jaune. Make sure that she wouldn't end up in one team with Nora, as long as there was a way to justify it to Ren. Show enough leadership abilities to be later appointed as a team leader. Meeting all the above objectives would be tricky, but still perfectly within the range of her abilities. It was a challenge, but a pleasant one, with clear goals and an abundance of tools.

Things were coming together quite nicely.

* * *

Ruby was speeding through the forest, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her. Despite her heightened reflexes, she was still risking slamming into a tree or some other obstacle, but at that particular moment, she could hardly care less about trivialities such as that.

She clearly remembered the Headmaster's words – the first person she would end up making eye contact with would be her partner for the next four years. It was a very important matter and Ruby wanted to make sure she would get a partner with whom she would get along well.

But who exactly would that be? Yang was an obvious choice, but there was no guarantee Ruby would manage to find her before anyone else did. Besides, for some silly reason involving making friends and growing up, Yang was apparently reluctant to get on a team with Ruby. It was a shame, but maybe Ruby could humor her sister and find herself some other good partner. Maybe even take her revenge by making Yang jealous.

So, who fit the bill besides Yang? Jaune was really nice and probably fairly strong as well, even if he didn't have too cool of a weapon. Ruby liked him, though obviously not in a way Yang joked about. He was just a nice dude.

But did he like her in return? After all, she did scare him off the first time they talked by being intrusive as hell. He seemed genuinely glad to see her earlier that day, but what if he had just been pretending in order to be well-mannered or to gain in Yang's eyes? Ruby wasn't sure either way, but she didn't want to risk being stuck with somebody who secretly disliked her for the next four years.

And then there was Weiss. Ruby really wasn't sure what to think of the white-haired girl or what that girl though of her in return. Their first meeting obviously didn't go very well, but later on in the auditorium Weiss seemed willing to befriend Ruby… until she got angry again and stormed off.

Ruby was so ingrained in all these thoughts that her worry came true – she slammed into something. That something was hard, enough to make Ruby's head hurt considerably upon impact. Carried by momentum, Ruby ran a couple more steps before stopping and turning around.

It turned out the 'thing' Ruby hit her head on was, in fact, a girl. One at least a feet taller than Ruby, with long red hair, clad in bronze armor. After a while something clicked and Ruby recognized that the girl was Pyrrha Nikos, a renowned tournament fighter who could swiftly beat just about anyone her age, such as a fellow student who just stupidly bumped into her.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Ruby took a few steps back, just in case she would end up needing a little headstart.

Luckily, the redhead didn't appear angry, just dazed and somewhat confused. She looked at Ruby with her emerald eyes and, contrary to what could be expected, smiled.

"That's alright, I wasn't hurt or anything." Pyrrha said, getting up from the ground. "Actually, I think you got it worse than me."

Yeah, she probably did. Ruby's head did hurt considerably and she would probably end up forming a bump afterwards. But then again, it was her fault for not being more careful.

"Still, I'm sorry." Ruby apologized once again, before realizing something. "Hey, since we made eye contact and all, does it mean that we are..."

"Partners?" Pyrrha shrugged. "It looks like it. I'll be glad to fight at your side..."

"Oh, it's Ruby." The brunette extended her hand as a greeting.

"Pyrrha." The redhead replied, somewhat redundantly. She shook Ruby's hand, gripping it quite tightly - it was like a milder equivalent of Yang's strangling hug. "It is nice to meet you, Ruby."

"Same." Ruby replied, unable to come up with anything better.

The two of them then stood in place for several moments, both waiting for the other one to say something more.

"So, what is our next great move?' Ruby asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, we need to reach the temple, choose ourselves a Relic and form a team with two other students." Pyrrha replied, failing to address the actual question.

"Right. But, um, where is that temple?"

"I do not know. To be honest, I'm not sure where we are in relation to our goal." Pyrrha said, sounding somewhat apologetically.

"I don't really know either." Ruby admitted. "Do you have anything that would help us find the right path?"

"I do not think so. I checked before we were launched and our scrolls appear to be jammed. I don't have any map of this place and the compass would be useless even if we had it."

"Why would a compass be... eh, whatever. There are better ways to find the right direction." Ruby walked over to the nearest tree and looked at it from all sides, until she knew which one was the most overgrown. She then crossed her hands and smiled with pride. "There. The moss grows mostly on this side, so that's where the north is."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that is just a myth. The moss doesn't care whether it's facing north or not." Pyrrha pointed out. "Also, does that mean that you know the direction in which the temple lies?"

Ruby's silence was telling.

" I'm not criticizing you or anything." Pyrrha quickly came to reassure Ruby. "Having an idea like that speaks well of your creativity and improvisational skills."

"But it doesn't help us in any way, does it?" Ruby asked with resignation in her voice.

Pyrrha's silence was telling.

They stood there awkwardly for the next minute or so. The wind blew, the leaves shimmered and a squirrel came nearby looking for something to eat, but none of these things provided any sort of solution to their problem.

Was that how it ended? The youngest student in Beacon's history and the Champion of Mistral getting thrown out of the school on their first day because they got lost in the forest? It sounded too lame to be possible.

Desperate for some kind of clue as to what she should do, Ruby looked up at the sky above. Perhaps she would be able to roughly tell the directions from the position of the sun, which at that time should be on the south-eastern part of the firmament, but just as Pyrrha pointed out, that wouldn't exactly help them very much. Not knowing where the temple was located, there was nothing they could _do_ with that information.

However, Ruby also saw something else among the clouds. A Nevermore, one of the largest she had seen in her entire life, was circling hundreds of feet above the trees. From that height, they could get an excellent view of the entire forest...

"Pyrrha?" Ruby said, not pulling her eyes away from the Grimm.

"Huh?" The redhead turned towards Ruby once more.

"I think I have an idea. I just want you to keep an open mind..."

* * *

Blake jumped from one tree to another, distributing her weight carefully as to not break the branch she now stood on. After it was clear that the branch was stable, the cat faunus made yet another leap, flying several meters above the ground and landing on yet another sturdy tree.

That wasn't the fastest, the safest, or even the most comfortable way of travelling across the forest. Cat instincts or not, Blake would gladly take the usual way and march on the ground, if not for one, crucial advantage that jumping from tree to tree offered. Namely, the element of stealth.

She wasn't hiding from the Grimm, of course. She doubted there were many creatures in the forest which could seriously threaten her and sneaking around the Grimm was more complicated than that anyway, since they could sense emotions around them in addition to simply using sight or hearing. No, she was only hiding from other students.

And didn't that sound pathetic. Hiding from other students, as if she was a shy kid afraid of being bullied. But of course, the situation wholly validated hiding from her peers. She wasn't afraid of them, really, she was just afraid of ending up with one of two specific people as her partner.

Because seriously, how unlucky had it been that two Schnees went to the exact same school as her on the exact same year? They were just as Blake would expect them to be as well - smug, self-centered and only perceiving others as pawns in whatever strange game they were playing.

Well, maybe that was a little unfair. That Jaune guy was fairly polite to her the day before and Blake realized that she reacted a little too impulsively to hearing his family name. She had no evidence that the boy any ill intentions towards her - after all, neither he nor his sister was responsible for all the messed up crap the Schnee Dust Company was doing.

But then again, there really _was_ something off about him as a person. The way he acted, the way he talked, even the way he looked at other people made it seem as though he was constantly searching for opportunities to advance some personal agenda. Perhaps Blake was biased, having fought the SDC for years now, but she would still rather avoid ending up with that kind of person in a team.

She therefore needed to find herself some other partner. She didn't have any strict criteria, she just wanted someone who wouldn't be a total jerk and with whom she could work with fairly easily. She hasn't gotten to spend much time with other students as of yet, but if she had to make the choice based of what she had seen thus far...

"Is anyone out there?" Somebody's voice was coming from down below. The cat faunus carefully jumped into a neighboring tree and stuck her head out from behind the leaves.

On the ground, Blake spotted a lone person. A tall, busty, blonde girl with bracelets that could probably transform into weapons of some sort. She walked through the forest nonchalantly, not paying much care to keeping her vision wide and certainly not paying much care to remaining quiet.

"Helloooooooo? I'm getting bored here." She said, throwing her arms up in annoyance. It further showed that she wasn't particularly afraid of whatever dangers might have lurked inside the forest, as though nothing could really threaten her.

Blake pondered whether or not she should come down. She didn't really know anything about that girl - Yang, was it? - not having exchanged a single word with her thus far. All she knew was that the blonde appeared confident in her abilities, had a sister in Beacon she cared about as well as a bunch of friends to hang out with. None of these was a sign that she was a good person, since even the most bigoted pricks had friends and family they cared about... but there wasn't anything pointing to her being a bad person either.

 _It's not the White Fang._ Blake reminded herself. _Most people here aren't vengeance-hungry victims of the system or violent visionaries. Just young people hoping to make the world a better place._

Blake had no way of telling if the girl below was a good person, but she was willing to gave her a benefit of the doubt. After all, she appeared quite friendly at the outset.

And, if nothing else, she wasn't a Schnee.

Blake observed the blonde for about a minute more. She watched her encounter a pair of Ursai, effortlessly dodge their attacks and then utterly annihilate them with the use her weapons, which appeared to have been gauntlets that also functioned as firearms, as well as a semblance which looked quite spectacular with how the flames engulfed her entire body. Through all of that, she appeared to enjoy herself and didn't show any sign of actual fear, even inches from the Grimm's claws and fangs.

Well, at the very least, Yang was a strong fighter. While it might not have been the most important thing for Blake to consider, martial prowess did matter when choosing teammates. And it was better to pick someone whom Blake knew to be strong than some other, random person she would encounter in the forest.

And thus, Blake descended downwards to meet her partner.

* * *

The Emerald forest positively teemed with life. Both actual living creatures and the Grimm made their own unique noises, from the honest bees to blood-hungry Nevermores. Of course, some creatures, due to their intrinsic nature, made more noise than the others.

"This is boring. Where are all those scary Grimm? I want to fight an Ursa. Better yet, I want to ride an Ursa! We would complete this test so much quicker if we had an Ursa to ride on. Right Jaune? Jaune?"

Realizing that Nora was calling his name, Jaune hastily nodded his head. "An excellent idea Nora, but I think we are almost there anyway. It would be rude to bother the Ursai in the forest over it."

"Awww..." Nora whined, but actually didn't say anything in the protest. She just resumed walking through the forest, or rather jumping from one large rock to another as though she was taking part in some childish game.

Once more, Jaune pondered whether he had been lucky or not to have Nora s his partner. The girl was, undeniably, somewhat annoying - even in the environment where keeping quiet was an asset, she just wouldn't stop babbling about whatever came to her mind.

Still, it was better than ending up with somebody who would pretend to be his friend off or who openly hated him for his heritage. Nora was neither of those things - she didn't seem capable of any real manipulation and clearly didn't hate Jaune. She might have been somewhat bitter at not having Ren as her partner, but if she resented Jaune because of that, she hid it remarkably well.

How would she do in combat though? Her weapon seemed to be some bizarre mix of a large warhammer and a grenade launcher, which wasn't really all that weird by huntsmen standards, but it didn't match her partner's weapon and fighting style very well. Jaune was a close-quarter fighter who usually relied on endurance to win tougher fights, while Nora used a weapon with a wide area of effect. In a fight with a singular opponent - or a tight pack of enemies, for that matter - they would have to both engage in melee without a ranged support or else Nora would end up damaging Jaune to a similar degree as she did their adversary. It was hardly a perfect combination and Jaune sincerely hoped that they would encounter another pair of students before getting into a serious encounter with the Grimm.

After matching in the forest for gods knew how long, Jaune and Nora finally reached a clearing. More importantly, they reached a huge rocky structure with a tunnel in it. It might have been a natural cave or a man-made structure - geology was never Jaune's strongest suit - but more importantly, it was the only distinctive structure they came across despite having trekked across the forest for a long while now.

"You think we were supposed to get here?" Nora asked, her usual cheerful tone giving way to uncertainty.

Jaune really wasn't sure whether they reached their destination or not. This place didn't look like a temple at all, but it was possible that the actual temple lied inside the cavern, or that said the tunnel was destined to take them somewhere closer to their objective. It was really just guesswork due to how little information they had been given.

But if it was just a random cave, than checking it out couldn't be very time-consuming. Contrary to the impression one could get from all the adventure stories, most caves were just small underground chambers. It was hard to get lost in one unless you actively tried and no decently-sized Grimm could fit inside. Searching through the cave and determining whether it was worth anything would take them several minutes at worst. Unless it was really an artificial tunnel, in which case it had to lead somewhere interesting.

Ergo, the potential benefits outweighed the potential consequences. Ergo, the right choice was to go inside.

"Perhaps." Jaune replied to Nora's question. "I say we investigate that. Follow me."

Jaune walked towards the entrance to the cave. The inside was shrouded in darkness but that wasn't much of a problem - their scrolls would offer them enough light to get by. Before Jaune managed to pull out his device and step into the dark, however, he heard a loud cough coming from behind him.

He turned around and saw that Nora hadn't moved an inch. She was standing in the exact same place as the moment before, only now she was pointing her finger towards the stone wall.

"I think you should take a look at that."

Jaune obliged, walking over to the wall his partner kept pointing at. It was riddled with drawings that looked as though they were made by someone with very little artistic merits and limited materials - such as cavemen, obviously. They depicted a group of people with spears fighting something that could have been a very large scorpion or, more likely, a deathstalker.

"Those are nice drawings, I suppose." Jaune shrugged. "What about them?"

"There is a Death Stalker drawn there." Nora said slowly, as though she was talking to a child. "That might mean that there is a Death Stalker inside."

"Ah. That's a reasonable conclusion to come to." Jaune replied. He couldn't help but to sound smug now, but he didn't care that much at the moment. "It's also a logically flawed one."

"Huh?" Nora, quite understandably, seemed confused by Jaune's statement.

"You see, those drawings were probably not meant as a warning sign." The young man continued. "If there really was a Death Stalker inside, chances are people would not risk coming so near the entrance just to draw something like that. They would just tell everyone they didn't want dead not to enter the cavern."

"I'm not sure." Nora expressed her doubt. "Someone could have really been brave enough to come here. And even if it really wasn't meant as a warning, there can still be a Death Stalker or some other Grimm there. They like dark caves and stuff like that."

"Well yes, some Grimm could have chosen this cave as a layer by pure chance." Jaune admitted. "But it couldn't have been something very large, lest it wouldn't be able to pass through the tunnel. The worst we can encounter there would be some man-sized Grimm, which is not something we wouldn't be able to handle, I think."

"Alright, I'll trust your reasoning, Mr. Know-It-All." Nora sighed. "But if we end up facing a giant Death Stalker down there, I'm blaming you."

"You can say 'told you so' if that happens." Jaune said, patting Nora on the shoulder. "Now follow me. It will only take us a moment or two."

* * *

 **Huh. It's surprising that a chapter with so many different perspectives thrown into it ended up actually being shorter than the previous two. It seems as though I have some issues with predicting how long a given chapter will end up being. I hope it was enjoyable either way.**

 **A little not regarding the updates to my other stories: The second chapter of Lost and Blind is already mostly written, though I will wait until Monday with uploading it. After that, I think I'll finally update A New Flame and then Black Out The Sky. This story will have to wait two weeks, maybe less long than that provided I write exceptionally fast.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm not even bothering with apologies for not sticking to the plan. I am horrible with managing my time, duly noted. Now let's get straight to the story.**

* * *

Yang liked Beacon quite a lot.

Of course, it might have been a bit too early to say, since she only got to spend a single night in the school, but from what she had seen thus far, the place was pretty damn great. For one, Beacon was a one, huge castle, which was unusually cool even for a combat-oriented school. The location was great too, with the cliffs and the appropriately named Emerald Forest just outside the walls. Yang could only imagine how fun it would be to just venture into the woods one day and hunt for Grimm without having to worry about teams and Relics.

In terms of her initial experience with Beacon, it seemed as though everything was going her way. Aside from the awesome surprise of having Ruby attend Beacon on the same year as her, Yang was lucky enough to meet some interesting people on her very first day, her partner being one such example.

Blake Belladonna, that was how she introduced herself when asked. While the girl was annoyingly quiet – with her dark outfit she looked kind of like an emo – she did manage to make that somewhat cool, since she was seemingly a strong combatant and she was definitely scorching hot – these hips were simply a work of art.

Still, that quietness could become a problem. No matter how strong Blake was, she couldn't be a good teammate if she wasn't willing to communicate a bit more. Right now they were marching through the forest in silence, neither of them having spoken a single word for the last five minutes.

If all her teammates ended up being like that, Yang's team would surely be a failure. Maybe teaming up with Ruby would be a good idea after all…

Yang was only snapped out of her musings once she and Blake entered a large clearing. In its center there were some ruins, presumably the temple headmaster mentioned while giving his instructions. The structure was circular, over a dozen meters in diameter and made entirely out of stone. Several columns supported what perhaps was once a roof, but now was nothing more than a couple of rectangular rocks raised several meters above the ground. They were all arranged around a platform on which several large podiums could be seen.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked her partner. It earned her no verbal response, as Blake simply threw her a quick glare that seemed to say 'What do you think?' and then descended down towards the ruins.

To be fair, Yang's question was sort of dumb. Unless the forest was filled with ruins of strange buildings, this had to be the temple they had been looking for. It was just a little strange that finding this place had been so easy. It would be quite hard to get lost considering how visible the temple was from above and how close it was to the cliffs.

Following her partner, Yang ran down the hill and entered what remained of the building. After stepping onto the stone floor she noticed something she hadn't been able to see from a distance – on several podiums there was a chess piece standing, either golden or black. Presumably these were the 'relics' they had been looking for.

"Chess pieces?" Blake seemed confused by the recent discovery. Yang could see where her partner was coming from – she had also been expecting something more spectacular – but she supposed some people would think it clever to make a chess reference like that.

Actually, it was something of a cool system. There were two pieces for each combination of type and color, meaning that, in order to form a team together, two pairs would have to pick the same piece – at least that was how Yang interpreted this setup. There was one thing that sort of annoyed her…

"Some of them are missing." Yang pointed out. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one." Blake replied, her eyes scanning the relics around her. She was clearly trying to determine which relic they best off choosing, even though there really was no difference.

They had no way to know which pair would choose what piece. Heck, they didn't even know what any of the other pairs was. If Yang had more information at hand, maybe she would try to manipulate the outcome so that she would end up in a team with someone cool, but she didn't have _any_ information like that. The selection process was completely random even know when they technically had a choice.

Still, they had to pick something. Maybe she should just choose the coolest color and type, that being…

Yang's attention was turned away from the chess pieces as she spotted something out of a corner of her eye. Two people – presumably other students – emerged from the treeline and marched towards the temple. Though it was hard to see the details from a large distance like that, Yang could still recognize both of them.

One was a rather handsome boy in a green suit – Ren, if she recalled correctly. He stood out from the crowd of other initiates in that he didn't seem desperate for attention and didn't behave like a gorilla looking for a mate, but that was just about all Yang could say about him. She never got the chance to speak with Ren or even hear him speak with anyone for that matter, so she barely knew anything about the guy.

The other person Yang knew a little better.

Weiss Schnee, with her princess-like attire and a matching posture. Yang really didn't know what to think about the white-haired girl. She was willing to have a casual chat with a person she hadn't known prior, to show a middle finger to authority when the reason was good enough and to promise friendship to Ruby, all of which Yang could certainly appreciate. Weiss could feasibly be a good teammate to fight alongside and a very good one for Yang to tease.

But then there was also that outburst the previous day… was that Weiss showing her true colors the moment anger hit her, or had Ruby simply hit a particularly sensitive topic? Yang couldn't really blame anyone for turning rude once someone pressed their weak spot. Jaune didn't appear to be a bad guy by any means, but there could still be a legitimate grudge between the two siblings. For all her screwed-up family situation, Yang couldn't claim to know how Weiss was feeling, whether anyone would behave better in her situation or even what that situation was.

She could give Weiss a chance. She needed to get teamed up with _somebody,_ so why not form a team with the first couple that came around?

For whatever reason, Blake didn't seem to share that opinion. She noticed other students approaching as well, but she looked at them with suspicion, almost hostility. It was as though she thought they were all in some competition… or a battle to the death.

Yang didn't pay much attention to her partner at the moment, however, since she remained largely focused on the approaching pair. The blonde stepped past the stone columns and raised her hand in a greeting.

"Sorry guys, that place is ours. We got here first!" She yelled with a smile on her face.

"Perhaps we can still negotiate?" Ren offered, extending a hand towards Yang. "My name is Lie Ren, as I believe we haven't met before."

"I'm Yang." The blonde said, returning the gesture. "As for negotiations, I want a pile of gold and a princess. It seems like you have the latter with you."

"It's good to see you, Yang." Weiss sighed, not very appreciative of the joke. "And it's nice to meet you…?"

The last sentence was clearly directed at Blake, who up until now was standing behind Yang and silently observing her fellow students. When Weiss addressed her, the brunette blinked as though she was snapped out of some musings. It took her another second to finally say something. "It's Blake. And it's nice to meet you as well."

The way Blake was staring at Weiss – that is with some major distrust – put the sincerity of her words in question. Luckily, none of the other three students decided to point that out.

Well, maybe not entirely luckily, as right after Blake finished introducing herself, an undisturbed silence descended upon them. They just stood there like a bunch of distant colleagues who had nothing to talk about – which was pretty strange, since they had an excellent topic at hand.

"So, are we a team now?" Yang decided to break the awkward silence by cutting straight to the chase. She pointed towards the ruins behind her. "Because we can team up just by picking the same type of relic from that temple. It looks like there are two of each kind and there are still a few pairs remaining."

"So that's how it works…" Weiss said, more to herself than to anyone else present. The way her brows furrowed suggested that she was thinking intensely, which was kind of weird, since the system was pretty damn easy to understand.

"Are we going to do that then?" Yang suggested. "Because, you know, there are four of us and we are alone here and forming a team is kind of the reason we are here, so…"

"Actually, I would like us to think for a while before making such an important decision." Weiss was quick to reply.

"Yes. We shouldn't be too hasty." Blake agreed vehemently.

"They say patience is the key to success." Ren stated philosophically.

Uh-oh. It looked as though nobody save Yang was interested in forming a team. Which was sort of to be expected, there was no rule saying that two pairs would have to become teammates immediately upon meeting. If only a single person refused to be a part of the team, Yang would assume that they are simply waiting for one of their friends to come or that they have a bad history with a person from another pair. But how could all three people around her be so opposed to the idea? Was there some reason only Yang couldn't see?

"I mean, we have to complete the initiation eventually." She pointed out. "And we are not advancing by standing here and talking. Even if we don't get attacked by some super-strong Grimm or anything, the teachers are watching us and they probably won't appreciate us wasting time."

"I believe that we can defeat any Grimm that attempts to harm us." Ren stated calmly.

"Why do teachers matter that much? I can live with having a low grade." Weiss said, although it came out forced, as if she didn't truly believe the things she was saying.

"Yang, it's alright." Blake told her partner. "Don't try to force them into anything."

"I'm not… ugh, fine." Yang groaned. "If you are so against teaming up, nothing's really lost. Me and Blake will just take one of the pieces and head back towards the cliffs. Right Blake?"

"It does sound reasonable." Blake nodded.

"Farewell then." Weiss said, looking straight at Yang's partner for some reason. "I will wait here until my brother shows up and see what piece he will pick."

So that was the reason. It seemed strange, since Weiss didn't seem to have the best relationship with her brother, but maybe they still thought that they should stay together despite everything. Or maybe she had some more pragmatic reason to be on the team with Jaune. It wasn't Yang's business, really.

"Alright then." The blonde said, turning back towards the temple. "Let's get out of here, Blake. As for the relics, I think of picking a cute little…"

Before Yang made more than a single step, her partner grabbed her by the shoulder. "Actually, how about we stay here for a few more minutes? The weather is really nice today."

Yang barely stopped herself from screaming out in frustration. It seemed like everyone except for her was playing some strange game and Yang was not allowed to know the goal, nor the rules.

Was that how huntsmen and huntresses were supposed to act? Was Beacon actually a school for spies or something like that? No, Yang was fairly sure that her partner and her not-teammates were just weird. Sadly, there wasn't much that could be done about that.

"Fine. Let's just wait for something unspecified to happen before we form any teams." Yang said with a healthy dose of sarcasm in her voice. To her horror, Weiss, Ren and Blake all just nodded, apparently not seeing any problem with that solution.

So, instead of picking a relic or doing anything remotely useful, the four of them just stood there silently under the sun and clouds. Yang's impatient nature started to show as the lack of action – in a place where there should have been a lot of action, no less – slowly became unbearable. After several minutes of standing in one place with a bunch of secretive jerks, she had half a mind to just pick up the closest relic regardless of what Blake thought of that. Fortunately, before Yang managed to spoil the relationship with her partner on day one, something finally happened.

Namely, two people fell from the sky.

One of them Yang recognized instantly, even as they were falling at the maximum velocity. Ruby Rose, Beacon's youngest student ever, was waving her hands wildly and screaming something intangible before ungracefully impacting with the ground and burying her face deep in the dirt. While Yang found that sight incredibly amusing, seeing Ruby hit the ground with such force awakened her 'big sister' instinct and prompted her to run over to the smaller girl.

However, before she could reach her little sister, Yang was force to a halt by yet another person landing on the patch of grass before her. A tall girl in a suit of bronze armor, red hair flowing in the wind. Her landing was far more graceful, as instead of simply hitting the ground with all her body she landed on her feet and then rolled for several feet, negating most of the kinetic force threatening to bury her in the dirt. Immediately afterwards, she turned towards Ruby and moved to help her get back on her feet.

"Ruby, are you alright?" She asked, extending a hand towards the smaller girl.

Pyrrha Nikos. Yang had seen the girl before and recognized her for her fame, but didn't attempt to socialize with the champion. Given how withdrawn the redheaded girl was and how she carried herself, it seemed safe to assume that she was some kind of a rich snob who didn't care to talk with the people she considered lower than her. But seeing how Pyrrha's first instinct after managing a dangerous landing was to help her partner get up from the ground – or rather from under the ground – maybe she was cool after all.

It looked like Ruby had found herself an excellent partner. Someone who was both a powerful fighter and could well make for a good friend.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ruby said, while slowly standing up. "Though I lost some aura and have some dirt under the… Yang!"

Energy suddenly returned to Ruby as she noticed her older sister and immediately ran over to hug her. Yang obliged, pulling her sister into a tight embrace.

"Hi sis." She said casually. "I see you made another friend. I didn't think you could manage that."

"Yang!" Ruby whined and then tried to free herself from the hug, probably more out of learned instinct than any actual annoyance or a need for breath. Probably.

"I hate to interrupt, I really do," Pyrrha said, true to her words sounding apologetic. "But we have an important matter to take care of right now."

"I do not believe there is anything more important that two siblings…" Ren started, but never got to finish his sentence. A gargantuan, black feather flew right before his nose and pierced the ground right next to Weiss' foot.

Instinctually, Yang looked up towards the sky and saw exactly what she could have expected. A giant Nevermore was circling above their heads, clearly interested in six little snacks down on the ground.

"Did you fall from that bird up there?" Blake asked, also staring at the beast in the sky.

"Indeed. It was our chosen mode of transportation." Pyrrha confirmed. "Now take cover!"

Everyone present trusted the champion's expertise, as they all ran towards the temple. They managed to reach the ruins and hide behind stone pillars just in time to avoid a cascade of razor-sharp feathers that had clearly been aimed at them.

"You flew here on a Nevermore?" Weiss asked, her voice full of indignation mixed with disbelief.

"We had no better idea!" Ruby replied. "Also, hi Weiss."

"Well, do you have any good idea right now?" Blake asked. "Because we are sort of in a bad spot."

True words had been spoken. Nevermores were some of the most dangerous Grimm around – it was really hard to fight something that could fly at high velocity – and the one they were dealing with was unusually large. Yang wouldn't have been able to damage the colossal bird even if she was able to get close to it. Still, with Ruby and Pyrrha to help out their group would likely come out of the battle victorious.

"Um…" Ruby was clearly thinking intensely about the issue at hand. "I can dish out some major damage with the Crescent Rose. Weiss, could you use your shining circles to get me up there?"

"They're called glyphs, thank you very much." Weiss replied snarkily. "And I don't think it will work. I don't feel confident using them on other people. I might end up harming you somehow."

"Alright… so maybe we can just stay here and try to shoot the thing?" Ruby suggested. "Yang's guns don't have good range, but me and Pyrrha have long-ranged rifles. We will kill it eventually."

"Do we have the time though?" Weiss objected. "If we stay all here, other Grimm will soon join the fight. Then we will be assaulted both from ground and air level and probably surrounded as well. Let's just grab the Relics and run back to the cliffs.

"I guess we could just bail out…" Yang said with uncertainty. Weiss was making fair points, but it still seemed like all of them together could win the fight. Six huntsmen initiates made for a deadly force, one that even an horde of Grimm would struggle with. They wouldn't even draw that many monsters towards them as long as they kept their emotions at bay.

Weiss clearly wanted to avoid confrontation regardless of how dangerous it really was. Either she was just a coward, or she was hoping to gain something out of retreat.

"Are you sure we can't just…" Ren tried to suggest something, but he was forced to dodge another feather which almost impaled his torso. The rest of them were protected by the pillars, though Ruby did yelp when several projectiles flew dangerously close by her.

"We need to get out of here!" Weiss said, this time more firmly. "Every pair choose a piece, now. The four of you can form a team here and now, if you changed your mind about that."

"Have it your way." Ruby conceded, now more willing to abort. "Yang, do you want to be on a team together or not?"

Yang pondered about that for a moment. She had half a mind to agree and team up with her little sister – having Pyrrha Nikos on the team would be a nice addition – but on the other hand, Ruby could really use some more friends. Weiss and Ren would be excellent for that purpose – the former had already expressed a desire to befriend Ruby and the latter just seemed like a swell guy, even if he had some unexplained aversion to her and Blake.

"Actually, maybe you should get on a team with someone else." Yang finally said, not without reluctance.

"What? Don't start with this whole…" Another cascade of feathers served as a reminder that it was no time for lengthy arguments. "Ugh fine!"

"Does that mean that we will be forming a team with our peers here?" Pyrrha asked, turning towards Ren and Weiss.

"Well, if they want to…" Ruby said without much certainty. "Weiss, do you still…?"

"I would feel honored to have you as a teammate, Ruby." Weiss replied. "But I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Why is so?" Pyrrha asked, raising her eyebrow. "Is there anyone you'd rather form a team with?"

"Well…" Weiss clearly struggled to find the right response. She turned towards Ren and stared at him, as though she was asking some silent question.

"Weiss... can't we wait a moment?" Ren asked after a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry, Ren, but there is no guarantee we will survive that long." Weiss replied. "And if we run away without having formed a team, there will be no telling who will end up with us."

Yang was desperately trying to understand what was happening. Was Ren the only one of these two who didn't want to form a team? Weiss didn't seem opposed to the idea at the moment, but she had been quite reluctant to team up earlier. Maybe she really did like Ruby and wanted to be on one team with her? Except, she suggested that Ruby should form a team with Yang and Blake just a moment before.

It felt horrible not to understand what other people were talking about or what they wanted. Yang considered herself to be a socially adept person, but this mess was just... something else. It was as though everyone around her had some agenda and wanted to achieve it by any means necessary – other than simply telling others what they wanted.

Ren's expression looked troubled. It was as though he still wanted to argue, but couldn't find the right arguments.

"Fine." Ren finally said, or rather sighed with resignation. "Ruby, Pyrrha, I suppose we are a team now."

"Awesome!" Ruby exclaimed, seemingly unaware of... whatever shenanigans were going on at the moment. "What piece should we take? Oh, maybe a pony?"

"It's called a knight." Weiss stated. "And while I don't think that really matters, I feel like picking the strongest piece. It might bring us luck later on."

"You mean the queen?" Pyrrha asked. "I suppose this might cause our morale to rise subconsciously."

Since neither Ruby nor Ren had anything against the idea – the former had no clue about how chess worked, the latter simply didn't care very much – both pairs picked up a golden queen each. Yang, on the other hand, decided to steal Ruby's idea and pick a golden knight, since it looked rather cute.

"Well, we have that out of the way." Yang said. She tried not to sound too frustrated, but irritation could still be heard in the tone of her voice. "Can we now deal with the..."

The Nevermore was nice enough to essentially finish Yang's sentence for her. Another cascade of feathers rained upon them, this time directly from above, rendering their covers largely useless. While nobody got seriously injured – they still had their auras 'in the green' – a few of them, including Yang, got painfully scratched by the sharp projectiles.

"It is learning." Blake observed, after skillfully dodging the feathers meant for her. "It adapts to the environment, tries out new strategies. The older Grimm can do things like that, I believe."

"One more reason to leave this place at once." Weiss said firmly. "Are we about to get moving?"

"I would still like to wait for a while in case... just in case." Blake replied, being as vague as ever. Was all that low-key scheming not over already?

"I have to agree with my partner on that matter." Ren said, still sounding somewhat dispirited. "We should get out of here before some other giant Grimm comes along."

And in that very moment, a high-pitched scream pierced the air.

* * *

"That is bullcrap!" Jaune exclaimed, barely stopping himself from using some more drastic swearword. He was still in the presence of a young lady after all – though that would soon change if he failed to keep up with Nora.

At the moment, the two of them were desperately trying to lengthen the distance between them and a Giant Death Stalker chasing them. The scorpion-like creature was following several steps behind them, toppling trees along the way just as it had shattered the walls of a cave it had been stuck in. It was large, larger than any specimen Jaune had seen before, and looked extremely scary with its red eyes and rasor-sharp claw grabs.

"How did it even get inside that hole!" Jaune kept yelling as he navigated between the trunks and boulders, hoping to achieve the highest speed possible. "It is larger than a tunnel! Much larger! That doesn't make any sense!"

He expected Nora to be saying something back, lecturing him about how she'd been right and he'd been wrong, possibly in the form of a classic 'Told you so' line. Instead, the redheaded girl stayed silent as she ran through the forest.

Somehow, that annoyed Jaune even more.

"Seriously, was that thing just laying there waiting for someone to come by?" The boy continued his angry rant. "That is absurd! That makes no sense!"

"Well it makes sense to save your breath." Nora replied as she jumped over a large rock lying in her path. Though annoyed, Jaune couldn't really argue with that point, so he limited himself to cursing mentally as he sped up and ran deeper into the forest.

Sadly, even that wasn't enough to leave the Death Stalker behind him. While Jaune was physically fit, he was also wearing a rather heavy suit of armor. Over the course of the next minute, the distance between him and the giant Grimm shortened, while the distance between him and Nora – who was apparently just as resilient as Jaune, but not weighed down by any sort of armor – slowly lengthened.

Was that how it all was meant to end? Would he die on his first day in Beacon, abandoned by his partner and left on the mercy of a big, mean scorpion? That wouldn't be just horrible, but also really, really sad. It wouldn't even be tragically sad, let alone heroic – it would be simply be a hilariously inappropriate end to his short life.

Luckily, Nora wasn't someone who would just leave her partner behind like that. Once she realized that she was significantly ahead of Jaune, she slowed down enough for the young man to match her pace and, once they were running shoulder to shoulder, unequipped her hammer.

"I've got an idea, but you'll have to hold tightly." The girl said, outstretching her weapon towards her partner.

Jaune had half a mind to ask what exactly was the idea and why it required him to hold on to the explosive-loaded weapon, but he decided to just run with it – partially because he had no other idea, but also because he was practically out of breath at that point. He reached for the hammer's handle and gripped it as strongly as he possibly could.

It was barely enough.

Once her partner got a solid grip on the weapon, Nora jumped high into the air – those legs were incredibly strong in addition to being pretty – and once they were high enough in the ground, she fired her weapon off, propelling herself and Jaune even higher into the air.

The speed was literally breathtaking. Jaune felt a gush of wind flowing through his hair and threatening to separate him from the metal handle. For a moment, he wondered how it was possible that a grenade launcher gave off so much recoil, but he quickly decided to focus on holding on to his life instead.

What made the situation even more terrifying was how Nora acted throughout it all. She didn't appear to be afraid even the tiniest bit – on the contrary, she was clearly enjoying the sensation. She wore a huge grin on her face, her eyes seemed to sparkle and... was she laughing? It was hard to hear due to the air moving so fast.

"What's so fun about it!?" Jaune yelled. Now that he could more or less breath normally, his irritation returned with full force.

"Everything!" Nora yelled back, firing another projectile and accelerating once again. "Don't you enjoy it even a little bit?"

The scary thing was that, while he would never admit, Jaune _did_ somewhat enjoy the situation. There was something exciting about flying through the air with such speed, even if it was utterly terrifying and made him want to puke. That didn't mean he had to approve of tactics such as that, even if he had no better ones at hand.

"Hey, you see that Nevermore up there?" Nora asked, looking onto the distance. Indeed, Jaune could see a black form of a Nevermore, circling around something. It was very large and, by all likelihood, extremely dangerous. "Let's hit it!"

"What?! Why?!" Jaune yelled with exasperation.

"We have to lose speed somehow!" Nora replied, firing yet another shot. "And I bet that birdy is softer than the ground. Sides, killing something so big might mean a better grade."

Jaune was about ask Nora whether or not she was being serious, but then he got a confirmation that his partner was, in fact, being perfectly serious. She speed up even further, now flying almost parallel to the ground below, and took the Nevermore as her destination.

The giant Grimm never had a chance. It had nowhere near enough time to react before two huntsmen initiates crashed into it with the speed that was probably nearing hypersonic. Jaune couldn't exactly see what the impact did to Nevermore, since he was immediately dazed by its force. In all fairness to Nora, the soft feathers did softened the crash somewhat and nearly all the horizontal momentum was lost to the impact. In any case, Jaune's aura was enough to absorb all the damage.

There was, however, another problem. After crashing into the giant bird, Jaune found himself very high in the air without anything to propel himself with or a parachute to open. As he accelerated vertically due to the force of gravity, Jaune searched his mind for anything he could do to somehow improve his less-than-perfect predicament.

He found nothing. There was literally nothing he could do other than shield himself with aura before another impact struck.

And it stroke rather brutally. Instead of hitting the soft grass and dirt as he had expected, Jaune was met with a solid floor of sorts. His aura held on even still, but it was dangerously low – by now, Jaune was a fairly easy prey for any Grimm that would take interest in him as a snack.

Luckily, there were seemingly no Grimm in his immediate proximity. After snapping out of his daze, Jaune realized that he was currently surrounded by people. He recognized each one of these people from earlier. There was Ruby and her older sister Yang, both looking at him concernedly. There was the tall girl with the crimson hair- Pyrrha Nikos herself, if he wasn't mistaken – who stood next to Ruby and also looked at Jaune with concern. There was Ren, whose eyes were directed somewhere else and wasn't paying that much attention to Jaune at the moment. There was Blake, the enigmatic girl who seemed to hate Jaune for whatever reason and seemed more surprised at having him crash next to her than anything else. And then there was...

"It is good to know that you are still alive." Weiss said, looking at her brother rather disconcertedly. "But I don't really like your style of entrance. Were you trying to kill me by falling on me?"

"I'm glad to see you too, Weiss. And everyone else as well." Jaune replied, still lying on the floor. He was still somewhat dazed and didn't want to get up just yet.

"Hi Jaune." Ruby said, seeming less worried now that she knew Jaune was not, in fact, dead or even seriously hurt. "Thanks for taking care of that Nevermore."

"So it worked? I would have never guessed so." Jaune said. After another second of lying on the cold floor, he attempted to lift himself up from the ground. It took some effort, but since he didn't have anything actually damaged, he was soon able to stand up and properly review his surroundings.

It appeared as though he accidentally managed to find the temple Headmaster had been talking about before the initiation began. It was a circular structure made entirely out of stone, with clear signs of old age and the erosion associated with it. There were multiple small platforms placed around the temple, some of which had a single chess piece standing in the centre. Those must have been the Relics, or so Jaune presumed. Using chess pieces as the method of forming teams was actually fairly clever, since it was easy to differentiate between different Relics this way.

As for the Nevermore, it seemed defeated indeed. At the moment, it lied motionlessly on the glade near the temple. The impact with Jaune and Nora must have hurt it significantly – while it was probably still alive, it didn't seem to be in any state to fight, especially not seven heavily-armed huntsmen initiates. It wouldn't be much of a threat even if it lifted itself up somehow.

Jaune then remembered that he had something more important to worry about than the Relics or even the Grimm. In the exact same moment, that thing came crashing down from the sky, cracking the stone floor on the spot right next to Jaune.

"Well, looks like the whole gang is here." Yang commented cheerfully.

"Ugh..." Nora groaned, immediately trying to get up from the ground. "I was hoping that if I spin around twice I would get a better... Renny!"

The girl seemed to experience a massive boost of energy as she shot round and not so much ran towards Ren, as she teleported next to him and pulled him into a tight hug. Ren didn't seem to mind, even though Nora still had a lot of dirt all over her. He didn't seem particularly surprised either, implying that this sort of behavior was more or less normal for Nora.

"It's good to see you in one piece, Nora." The boy said, reciprocating the hug. "But there is a thing..."

The redhead backed off a step. She looked Ren in the eye, stayed like that for a second and then looked around the temple. It was the same sort of wordless communication Jaune and Weiss often performed between each other, though there was no enmity there. Only sadness in Nora's eyes and a twinge of guilt in Ren's. The meaning was obvious, even to an outsider such as Jaune.

"Yes, I already have a team." The boy admitted. "I'm with Weiss, Pyrrha and Ruby. I'm sorry, it just..." Ren's expression was complicated, as though he didn't know what excuse to give or who to blame.

Jaune strongly suspected who was to blame for this situation. Weiss in one team with Pyrrha Nikos and two other skilled fighters... there was no way that came about by chance. There had to be some level of manipulation involved. His sister had managed to reach the temple before him and, somehow, convince the right people to team up with her despite one of said people having different intentions. She likely chose Ren as her partner and then picked whatever pair contained Nikos in it – that was the only plausible explanation for why she ended up with the same team as Ruby despite having a measure of control over the process.

If Jaune was looking at Weiss at the moment, he would have probably seen an expression of smugness and triumph. But instead, remembering one more thing, he looked towards the trees in the distance.

"That's okay." Nora responded to Ren's non-explanation. She didn't sound very convincing, but she didn't sound totally resigned either, which was definitely a good thing. "And hey, I think we have two teammates right here, am I right?" She added, turning towards Blake and Yang.

"I am not sure if it's a good idea. See..." Blake started, but something interrupted her. Namely, the sound of falling trees made as the Death Stalker entered the clearing.

"Oh, right. There is that." Nora said casually, picking up her weapon and preparing for combat.

"You brought a Death Stalker here!?" Weiss asked exasperated.

"Looks like it." Jaune replied, almost managing to keep the embarrassment from his voice. "I was hoping it would get lost or give up, but it looks like it followed us here. Still, I think the eight of us can handle a single Grimm, even one as large as that."

A second after Jaune finished his statement, a loud screech could be heard. A quick look to the side revealed that, contrary to Jaune's assumptions, the Nevermore was not dead or even critically wounded. In fact, it had just stood up from the ground, visibly angry and, despite its injuries, ready to return to the fight.

 _We are facing one gargantuan Grimm from each side._ Jaune realized the severity of their predicament. _Not exactly a great situation to be in._

"Well, it might be fun." Ruby said, activating Crescent Rose and assuming a combat stance. Everyone else followed suit, equipping their own weapons.

"Jaune?" Weiss said, reaching for the Myrtenaster. "I really hate you right now."

"Likewise, sis." Jaune replied, unsheathing Crocea Mors. "Likewise."

* * *

 **Now, some of you probably want to crucify me right now for not putting Ren and Nora into the same team. My response to such a sentiment is simple – wait. I have my reasons for arranging the teams in that exact way and while I could start explaining myself right now, I would have to be a rather spoiler-y type of explanation. Just know that while I'm certainly not perfect, I am planning ahead and I have at least a vague idea of what I'm doing.**

 **I would, however, gladly hear an opinion or two regarding other aspects of the chapter, such as using Yang as the narrator. I wanted to show how someone like Weiss or Jaune looks from the outside as they are influencing people around them and advancing their little agendas. It might make some moves look very confusing, but I had to do something like that sooner or later.**

 **And, of course, you can bash me for being lazy. It probably won't change anything about me, but I deserve it anyways.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This time it took me a bit less than eternity to write a single chapter. Progress, I guess?**

* * *

Weiss had mixed feelings regarding how things were going.

From a certain perspective, they were going exceptionally well. She had been able to remember and apply the principles of persuasion, resulting a favorable outcome for her arising in the end. All it took was some subtle suggestions along the way for Weiss to eventually find herself in a team containing three other powerful fighters, one of whom was definitely the strongest of the prospective students.

As always though, there were also the downsides. Having Ruby Rose as her teammate was not, in fact, an outcome Weiss was hoping for. While there had to be a reason a fifteen-year-old had been allowed into Beacon, that didn't necessarily make up for Ruby's childishness and, as seen by her decision to ride a Nevermore to victory, tendency to make poor tactical decisions.

Speaking of Nevermores, there were also other, more immediate downsides to the current situation.

"We have two Grimm against the eight of us." Jaune stated, staring firmly at the Death Stalker as it drew close. "You four are already a team, so take care of the Nevermore. The rest go with me. We might have a shot at bringing the other one down."

While Weiss didn't enjoy being ordered by Jaune, she couldn't come up with any better plan. They had no choice but to face the monsters that were attacking them – while running away was an option, chances were that the Grimm would catch up to them eventually, and then they would have to fight this battle more tired and in an unknown terrain. It also made sense for Weiss' team to take care of the Nevermore, as both her Glyphs and Pyrrha's sniper rifle would probably be more useful against it than against the Death Stalker.

"Fine, deal with the threat you started." Weiss replied, acknowledging her brother's plan but not praising him overly for it. "Pyrrha, Ren, let's go."

"And me!" Ruby whined, as she followed her teammates into battle. Together, the three huntresses and a huntsman approached the black beast.

The Nevermore had been clearly wounded by Jaune and Nora's attack – if one could call that an attack, that is – but was still clearly alive and dangerous. With one of its wings damaged or perhaps broken, it was unable to soar into the sky and attack safely from a distance, but it still had the rather massive advantage of size and durability over the little humans below. It gazed at the four humans running towards it with hatred – and yes, the creature was somehow able to express hatred without any facial expression – and screeched loudly at them.

"Do we have any plan?" Ruby asked, not stopping for a second.

"Just cover me." Weiss replied confidently. "I will show this thing what I can do."

"What can you..." Ruby started, but before she got a chance to finish her question, Weiss had already left her behind. With the help of her glyphs she was able to reach higher speed than any of her teammates, which allowed her to take the lead and catch the Nevermore's undivided attention.

A cascade of feathers, aimed exclusively at the Schnee heiress, shot out of the Nevermore's wounded wings. Luckily, Weiss had this handled – she used a glyph to launch herself into the air, which allowed her not only to avoid the projectiles, but also to place herself in a better position to strike.

The Grimm kept is sight focused on Weiss and prepared to fight off the incoming attack, but a barrage of bullets from the students distracted it for a moment. That moment was enough for Weiss to create another glyph, propel herself off it and soar towards the gargantuan bird, Myrtenaster gripped tightly.

The strike connected and the silvery blade pierced Nevermore's feathery armor. After cutting an open wound across the monster's torso, Weiss used her semblance yet again, this time to get out of the way of the bird's peak as it attempted to strike the girl down in response.

Upon landing, Weiss found herself standing near her teammates, who still had their weapons aimed at the beast in front of them. She didn't pay the other huntsmen much attention though, as she looked at the Nevermore instead to see just how much damage she had managed to inflict.

Sadly, it didn't appear as though her attack did any real damage. Blood was dripping from a large cut across the beast's abdomen, but it didn't seem like anything that would kill a Grimm such as that.

"I don't think your weapon will do much here, Weiss." Ruby said, and although the way she phrased it irritated the heiress quite a bit, the words themselves were seemingly true. Myrtenaster was an excellent weapon, but it seemed as though it was simply too light to inflict any critical damage on the giant Grimm. The only way to make her attacks more powerful would be to utilize dust, but even that probably wouldn't end up being enough. Chills ran down Weiss' spine as she realized that _she had no plan_ how to deal with the immediate danger in front of her. Having no plan was always a bad thing, especially when failure would result with death or getting expelled from Beacon on her first day.

"What do we do then?" Ren asked. Uncharacteristically, there was a note of fear in his voice, probably due to the Nevermore in from of him spreading its wings once again, clearly preparing for another attack.

"Scatter!" Ruby yelled, disappearing into rose petals. The others found it much harder to avoid the deadly feathers, but somehow they all came out unscathed from the barrage.

While trying to avoid subsequent projectiles, Weiss was desperately trying to find some way out of the situation. Well, maybe not desperately – there were some viable options in front of them, but none of them could be called 'good' by any stretch. Running away was as bad an option now as few moments before, since there was no telling how far they could run before falling from exhaustion or attracting some other giant Grimm. Another option involved splitting up, which would mean that only two of them would be in any real danger, but Weiss very reluctant to risk one of her new teammates getting killed due to not having anyone's support. It wouldn't make things easier for her down the line.

In between her dodges and casting glyphs, Weiss glanced towards the Death stalker and the four people who engaged in a fight with it. It seemed as though Jaune and his group had been relegated to defending themselves from the monster's attacks, seemingly unable to launch any counterattack strong enough to damage the beast. Although none of them had been wounded yet, they were gradually retreating into the forest, moving into a dangerous territory and losing their strength at the same time. It seemed right to help them out, though of course, that wasn't something Weiss could do as she was trying to deal with her own... nuisance.

"Our current strategy is ineffective!" Pyrrha yelled in between the shots she kept making from her rifle. "We need something more powerful to kill that Grimm."

An accurate observation, but a pointless remark. Weiss, for all her knowledge regarding Grimm and the strategies best used against them, could not come up with anything that would guarantee them victory. For all she knew, there were no clever tricks to combating Nevermores, other than using ranged weaponry and always going for the head. Following these principles would probably earn them a victory eventually, but only if they didn't run out of strength during the fight, which seemed like a plausible scenario in their current situation.

Maybe they made a mistake fighting that thing in the first place? The team of four huntsmen initiates was often considered a rough equivalent of one experienced huntsman in terms of combat utility. Weiss couldn't recall any reports of a singular huntsman killing a Nevermore this size on their own – well, there was the legendary Grimm Reaper, but all the accounts regarding her were highly unreliable to say the least. Sure, Weiss' team was definitely above average in terms of strength, but maybe it still wasn't enough? Maybe retreat would be a better solution after all.

"I got it!" Ruby yelled all of a sudden. "Weiss, do you have any dust with you?"

It appeared as though Ruby finally encountered an idea Weiss had thought of a while ago. Just as expected of somebody two years younger than every other huntsman initiate.

"Fire, lightning, water, energy, ice, gravity." Weiss listed all types of dust present in the Myrtenaster's canister. "But I don't think any of these will seriously damage..."

"Attach all the dust you have to Pyrrha's spear." Ruby suggested, no, _ordered_ Weiss, apparently believing herself to possess some incredible plan. "Tie it together or something like that. Me and Ren will distract the bird."

Then, before Weiss had a chance to ask what was the point of that command, Ruby turned away and charged at the Nevermore with semblance-amplified speed. The Schnee heiress found herself in disbelief at her teammate's lack of thought; Did she seriously expect that, upon barking some strange orders and not even bothering to explain them, everyone around her would just obey and follow whatever plan she had?

And then, exactly one second after Ruby departed, Pyrrha ran over to Weiss and transformed her weapon into its spear form. "Quickly. I am not sure how long will our teammates endure without us."

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, now in even greater disbelief. "Are you really going with..."

"Please Weiss, we have to trust Ruby on that one." Pyrrha insisted. "Otherwise, we will be just fighting until our strength fails, or our companions out there die to the Death Stalker, or both!"

While Weiss had little faith in Ruby's tactical abilities, she had to concede Pyrrha's point. In the battle they were fighting, time was their enemy as much their enemy as the Nevermore. Doing something did seem better than running around and firing ineffective attacks, even if Weiss couldn't see what the purpose exactly was.

So instead of arguing, the Schnee heiress gritted her teeth and pulled out five dust canisters out of her weapon's chamber. She only left the one containing ice dust, so that she could freeze all the other container's to Pyrrha's spear, just as Ruby asked her to.

"Alright, done!" Weiss said loudly so that Ruby – who was currently busy performing complex dodges – could still hear her. "What comes next?"

"Ren!" Ruby yelled mid-flight as she rained fire on the Nevermore from above. "Open the beak, now!"

It took Weiss a while to process this command. Did Ruby seriously wanted Ren to forcibly open the Nevermore's beak? Why? How? Wasn't that an absurdly dangerous attack? If Weiss' partner died performing some absurd order, Ruby would follow him into the afterlife.

What was perhaps more surprising than Ruby's command was the fact that Ren understood it immediately and proceeded to carry it out a split second later. Maybe he saw some hidden merit to Ruby's unveiling plan, or perhaps associating with Nora made him largely accustomed to weirdness. Either way, the huntsman wasted no time as he ran over towards the Nevermore, jumped high into the air in an impressive display of acrobatics and, using his guns to propel himself forwards, flew towards the monster's head.

Predictably, the Nevermore opened its mouth hoping to devour a human who conveniently decided to offer himself as a snack. Luckily, Ren proved himself fast enough not to get eaten and indeed managed to pry the avian creature's beak wide open, using his arms and legs to prevent it from closing again.

Sadly, it meant that Ren found himself in a situation where his major advantages – being exceptionally fast and able to use aura in creative ways – became less important than simple, physical strength. While Weiss couldn't see whether his limbs trembled, but she imagined they did given how much force they had to withstand. For that reason, Weiss activated her semblance and casted two small glyphs that applied additional force against the monster's closing beak.

"Perfect!" Ruby exclaimed, landing between Weiss and Pyrrha. "Now make that throw!"

And then Weiss finally understood what the plan was.

Pyrrha gripped her spear tightly and focused her eyes on the target, before throwing her weapon with all her strength towards the Nevermore's head. For a moment Weiss was afraid that the additional weight applied to the spear would mess up its trajectory and make Pyrrha miss – either by not hitting her target at all or hitting Ren instead – but the champion had apparently adjusted for the changes so that the spear ended up flying in an arch through the air, missing Ren by several inches and hitting the mark that was the monster's mouth.

The wound inflicted was not lethal, but it clearly hurt immensely. The Grimm let out an agonizing shriek and momentarily opened its beak even wider, allowing Ren to break his hold and disengage, jumping back down and onto the ground. As he ran over to his teammates, the Nevermore kept trashing around in pain, feathers shooting out of its body seemingly at random. It was still a threat, but an unfocused, chaotic one. It's intent to kill had been compromised by the pain and perhaps the damage done to whatever brain Grimm possessed.

An old and powerful Grimm brought down by a single, unconventional attack. It would certainly be enough to impress the teachers, even if the beast had already been wounded by someone outside of Weiss' team. If nothing else, it would mean a good grade at the end of the exam... even if grades were as meaningless as the Headmaster said they were.

"Alright, it looks like your plan paid off." Weiss said to Ruby, feeling obliged to give the girl some credit where credit was due. Ruby's plan was reckless and extremely risky, but Weiss wasn't going to criticize it after it ultimately succeeded. "I just hope you didn't use all my dust up for nothing?"

"Nope." Ruby smiled as she raised her weapon once more. "Cover your ears please, it might get a little loud."

That command was followed by everyone present without any discussion. Slowly, Ruby knelt down on the grass, pressed her eye to her rifle's scope and carefully took aim...

Even with her ears covered, Weiss felt bothered by how loud the explosion was. Five canisters of dust, each a different type, detonated at once in a flash of fire and lightning, turning the Nevermore's head into a hundred bloody pieces which were then scattered across the clearing by the powerful shockwave. None of the huntsmen below have been toppled over by the force of the blast, but they could still feel it directly. While part of Weiss was still annoyed at having lost several units of high-quality dust, another part of her thought that seeing such a spectacular explosion was more than worth it.

She chastised that part of herself for having a stupid thought such as that. Yes, they defeated a powerful Grimm, which was a cause for contentment, but there was nothing particularly impressive about having achieved that through an explosion. Explosions were something do be avoided, not a spectacle to watch.

"I suppose that means we have won." Pyrrha stated, rather unnecessarily. She then summoned her spear back to her hand – Miló, an excellent piece of craftsmanship it was, didn't appear significantly damaged even by an explosion of this magnitude. "You have my applause, Ruby. Your abilities allowed us to come out of the battle unscathed."

"Eh, it was team effort." Ruby said, blushing slightly. "Hurray team... whatever we end up being called!"

"That name shall be remembered for centuries." Ren replied with a smile.

"May we celebrate later?" Weiss said, turning away from the dissipating, headless corpse of a Nevermore and towards the forest where the other four students disappeared a few minutes earlier. Her brother was somewhere in these woods, likely still fighting an enormous Death Stalker. "Something tells me that our friends out there could really use some help right now."

* * *

Jaune could really use some help at the moment.

He wasn't alone, of course. Nora, Blake and Yang were all by his side, using all their arsenal to fight the giant Death Stalker, their bullets and grenades flying through the air and hitting the beast repeatedly. Yang and Blake had proven themselves just as strong as Jaune suspected and Nora was utilizing her vast firepower to its full extent.

But it just wasn't doing anything.

It was one of these situations in which their skill or strength didn't really matter that much. Whenever huntsmen had to deal with gargantuan Grimm such as that, they would usually prepare some sort of plan in advance. Prepare a trap, acquire some unconventional weapon or just bring some serious firepower with them. Even truly powerful warriors, the likes of which would be able to utterly stomp Jaune's little team in combat, would generally not try to fight a colossal Death Stalker without any sort of preparation. In this regard, the initiation didn't reflect reality very well. Jaune decided that, if he were to survive the fight, he would point this issue out to the Headmaster in some harsh words.

'If' being the key word here. There was a very real chance he and his companions would end up dying right then and there, on a forest clearing, away from the help they desperately needed.

"None of this is working!" Blake exclaimed as she dodged the stinger, summing the problem in a single sentence.

"You think?" Yang replied, jumping out of the Death Stalker's as it tried to cut the girl in half with one of its pincers. "How are we losing to some overgrown insect?"

"Overgrown arachnid, if anything." Jaune said, ducking under a swing of the other pincer. "Besides, insects are technically the most successful phylum of animals on the planet, so using that as an insult is rather..."

"Can we focus on the fight please?" Yang growled, understandably irritated with Jaune's ramblings. "Do you have any clever ideas how to deal with that thing?"

No, he had none. Jaune had been trying to form some sort of plan for the last several minutes, but no matter how he looked at it, there didn't seem to be any clever solution to the problem at hand. He wished there was some creative combination of their weapons and semblances, some spectacular team attack they could use to slay the Death Stalker at once, but that simply was not the case. The monster didn't appear to have any major weaknesses – it walked stable on its eight legs, had three viable modes of attack and was fully armored, leaving no weak spots for them to target. Well, no significant weak spots anyway, there were always some places that the armor couldn't cover such as...

Huh. That actually had a chance to work.

"We need to target the eyes!" Jaune said loudly, so that everyone nearby could hear him clearly. "It has a few of those, but we can gouge them out one by one."

"It's a Grimm, it will be able to sense us anyways." Blake protested. "Or is going for the eyes just an instinct for you?"

"Just trust me here." Jaune replied, ignoring Blake's odd remark. As Yang helpfully pointed out just a moment ago, there was something important for them to focus on. "The two of us can start cutting at the eyes. Yang, Nora, keep attacking it so that it gets distracted."

Nora, who judging from the smile from her face enjoyed the dangerous situation quite a bit, grinned even more widely and braced her weapon for another attack. Yang also put on a smile and, out of a sudden, exploded into flames – though since the fire didn't seem to hurt her, it was likely just a conscious use of her semblance. Her eyes changed their color to read, making the huntress look even more dangerous than before and ensuring Jaune that she would carry out the attack properly. Blake didn't seem quite so eager to follow the plan, but she nodded after a moment of thought, probably having decided that arguing wasn't worth the trouble.

Excellent. Or good enough, in any case.

When the Death Stalker rushed forwards once more, the four huntresses and a huntsman attacked instead of retreating as they had thus far. Blake and Jaune, both recognizing what their best move was, jumped on top of the monster's torso. It's immediate reaction was to try and hit Jaune with the stinger, but luckily, Yang came to the rescue immediately. She flew towards the Death Stalker's tail, slammed into it and then, in a display of strength and improvisational skills alike, grabbed onto it with both arms and wrestled it away from her companions, leaving them free to perform their part of the task.

Gouging the Death Stalker's eyes turned out to be relatively easy. Blake managed to somehow retain perfect balance while running atop the scorpion's torso and took away half of its crimson eyes with few measured swings of her blade. Jaune had a somewhat harder time, struggling to remain balanced, but he only needed about four seconds to swing Crocea Mors as many times, rendering a monster blind save for its Grimm senses.

Having all of its eyes brutally destroyed enraged the monster quite a bit. It moved both of its pincers at the same time, one of it aimed to cut down Jaune, the other one destined for Blake. Nora slammed one of them with her hammer before it reached Jaune – apparently, she considered her partner more important than a random other student – but Blake had no such support. Still, she had shown herself exceptionally fast and the pincer was not moving particularly fast, so she should have been able to dodge...

But she didn't. The dark-haired girl simply stood there, seemingly waiting for the pincer to close around her. Which was basically suicidal, since even with her aura full, Blake couldn't hope to withstand that much force pressing on her for more than a second or two.

In a split second, Jaune made the choice, the only one that seemed correct in that extremity. He rushed towards Blake, hoping to push her out of the way with his sheer momentum by slamming into her...

...except he didn't slam into her. He didn't slam into anything other than air. Luckily, it meant that his own momentum carried him out of the way a split second before the pincer closed – which would had surely cut him in half with his severely depleted aura reserves – and the further, causing the young man to jump, or rather fall out of the Death Stalker's exoskeleton and onto the grass.

Confused, Jaune lied on the grass for several seconds, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He was only brought back to reality by somebody nudging him in the torso, though as far as nudges went, it was more on the 'harsh' side.

"We are still in a battle!" Blake said, grabbing Jaune's shoulder and helping him get back on his feet. "Don't lose your focus."

"But..." Jaune was still quite confused, but he conceded Blake's point by standing up. At the moment, Yang and Nora were fighting the Death Stalker on their own, but since it was now blind and crazed, it didn't seem like that much of a danger for the two huntresses. "What just happened?"

"I used my semblance to dodge. It creates a clone for me to take the hit. I didn't need your help." The girl explained, only to add, somewhat reluctantly: "Though I do appreciate the gesture."

"Um, no problem." Jaune replied, as he wasn't able to think of any better response at the moment, luckily, he didn't have to get into any extended conversation, as in the exact same moment, Yang and Nora landed right next to him.

"That was awesome!" Nora exclaimed, her cheerful attitude unchanged. "The whole action, that is, though wrestling the tail takes the cake."

"Heh, thanks." Yang replied and then turned towards Jaune. "That actually worked pretty damn well. That thing can still sense us, but only once we get really close. We can probably run away now, or kill it from a distance if we have a patience for it."

"No." Jaune said, gripping his sword tightly. "I can finish this."

"Playing a badass?" Yang seemed skeptical of Jaune's abilities. And to be fair, he was hardly strong enough to take down a Death Stalker this size on his own, even if the beast had been severely impaired. But he had a trick which just so happened to be perfect for the situation such as this.

"Hey, I know what I'm doing. Can you trust me on that one?" Jaune replied, hoping that curiosity would drive Yang and the other two girls into letting him take care of the Grimm. Luckily, it seemed to have worked, as all none of the girls bothered to say anything to dissuade him. Instead they just looked at him with different levels of doubt, their weapons ready to be used any second.

Assured that his companions were willing to show him some trust, but also to join the fight should anything go wrong, Jaune approached the crazed Death Stalker. The beast was still swinging its pincers and tail wildly, sensing prey but not managing to locate it accurately. It's sensory abilities were very limited now, but not quite useless.

Jaune aspired to change that.

In an instant, he stopped thinking about... anything. Just like that, there was nothing to be concerned about. Everything was still in its place of course – there was the forest, the trio of girls behind him and the huge Grimm in front of him. But none of these things had any meaning, they simply _were._ The forest was an ecosystem made up of lifeforms from all domains of life, a complex web without any specific purpose to its existence. Nothing remarkable from an objective standpoint. The people behind him were just unremarkable, just as simple to understand. Human females, all perfectly capable of childbearing as well as performing combat on an advanced levels. Each one possessed an advanced neural network, which governed their behaviors in way that would make them absolutely predictable if analyzed sufficiently. And there was a Death Stalker nearby, a being which existence could not be explained by mankind's current understanding of reality, but which was still just a mundane part of reality, unworthy of fear and consideration alike.

Jaune approached the creature, perfectly calm and unconcerned about anything around him. A loud sound could be heard from a distance, but he ignored it as well – sounds were nothing but chaotic vibration of the air around him, and whatever caused those vibrations didn't interest him in the slightest. Nothing did, really. He had to kill the Death Stalker, since it was a bother to him, but it was not something worth truly caring about. Just a nuisance to be dealt with.

The Death Stalker didn't react as the aspiring huntsman approached it with a drawn sword. It couldn't sense any emotion, negative or otherwise, coming from Jaune, because there simply wasn't any. There was just a bunch of dispassionate thoughts and a desire to kill. Slowly, Jaune approached the monster, walking up close to its mouth. Had the Grimm kept resisting, striking there would be a poor tactical decision, but now he had nothing to fear from the black beast.

With as much strength as he could muster, but still without any emotion or passion, he dug the sword into the creature's body. It wiggled and started to wave its pincers even more wildly, but it was to confused to offer any effective resistance. It couldn't see Jaune, it couldn't sense him – as far as it was concerned, there were no living beings in its immediate proximity. Just unexplainable, unbearable pain.

Jaune pushed his sword further into the monster's body and then twisted it, trying to cause as much damage as possible. It had the intended effect, for after several seconds of trashing around the Death Stalker collapsed and, after several more seconds of wiggling, turned motionless.

Jaune still held on to his shield, just in case the Grimm wasn't absolutely dead. When it started to dissipate into black smoke, however, Jaune relaxed and turned his shield back into a sheath. After he retrieved the sword, he took a deep breath and allowed his emotions to slowly return.

Snapping out of that unnaturally serene state was, in a way, harder than entering it. Once you saw through the illusion, it was hard not to see the underlying reality. Once you saw the forest for a complex ecosystem, it was hard to admire its beauty again. Once you saw the Grimm as mindless creatures, it was a little hard to see them as terrifying spawns of darkness. And once you saw your female companions as simple biological creatures it was hard to...

Well, that part was actually quite easy. Those girls were still supremely hot and no amount of mental effort would change that.

"What was that?" Yang asked, walking over to Jaune. Her voice was filled with confusion, but there also seemed to be a note of admiration there. Jaune felt an urge to explain his special technique in detail, but he already made himself look like a smartass earlier that day and he didn't want to exhaust Yang's patience. "Does that tie in to your prophetic powers somehow?'

"A little trick I have prepared." He replied casually. "I expunged all the emotions from my mind, negative ones included, which made it impossible for a Grimm like that to sense me."

"Ren can do something similar." Nora said. "But he needs his semblance for that. Can you really stop feeling stuff just like that?"

"I have trained that technique for quite a while." Since the day his biological family died, to be exact. Jaune never expected that particular trick to ever be particularly useful, but it was something he always felt compelled to learn it. It helped him manage his grief during his young days, to hide his anger when dealing with somebody whom he was disgusted with and to combat the fear during his first encounters with Creatures of Grimm. Being able to tune out your emotions came in handy in many different situations, not just he one he always feared would happen again.

And the negative feeling returned with full force. Jaune's lost childhood, his former weakness, his never-ending rivalry with Weiss... he had to force these thoughts back to avoid attracting another gargantuan Grimm with his sheer negativity.

"Well, since we dealt with that thing, can we head back towards the temple?" Blake asked, snapping Jaune out of his musings. "The other guys might still be fighting."

"Right." Jaune shook off all the distracting thoughts, especially these centered around Weiss and the enmity the two of them shared. Right now, Weiss needed help, and he had to deliver. "Let's not waste any time and..."

Before Jaune got to finish his sentence, the object of his concern made an entrance. Weiss jumped into the clearing with Myrtenaster in hand, manifesting a glyph to negate her momentum, and started to frantically look around.

"Where is the Grimm? Why are you just standing there and not..." In that moment, Weiss presumably realized that, since there was no fight or chase going on, the conclusion ought to be obvious. "You killed it already?"

"It has disintegrated a few seconds ago, yes." Jaune replied, doing his best to sound all casual. Seeing Weiss come to an unnecessary rescue brought him slight satisfaction.

A moment later, Ruby arrived on the scene, Ren and Pyrrha running not far behind her. All of them had largely the same reaction to seeing other huntsmen alive and well – they were visibly surprised, but most of all happy upon finding out that their fellow students have survived the fight. Ruby in particular took no longer than a second to run over to Yang and hug her tightly, at the same time when Ren received similar treatment from Nora.

Weiss, in contrast, didn't seem very happy. Perhaps she wasn't upset per se, but surely disappointed. If she was happy to see her brother alive again, she didn't let that show.

"Well, it is good to see that you handled this threat on your own." She said, not very convincingly.

"Aren't you disappointed that you didn't get to play a hero as much as you hoped for?" Jaune asked, allowing himself a slight smile.

"Don't be ridiculous." Weiss retorted. "I care not for looking like a hero. Besides, the fact that I tried to save you and your friends here is evidence enough of my heroic character."

"But not of your efficiency." Jaune pointed out, still smiling. "The teachers might be impressed by your courage, but chances are they will be even more impressed by my ability to actually help the fellow students in need."

"Wait what!? We killed one Grimm, you killed the other one. You didn't even attempt to help us out!"

"You seem to forget that me and Nora had already damaged the Nevermore before you directly engaged it. We saw that your group was in danger so we decided to intervene, as huntsmen ought to do."

"Actually, I just wanted to lose some speed by hitting it." Nora pointed out, stepping away from Ren for a second. "We didn't know there was anyone in danger."

"Details." Jaune shrugged. "Not large enough to be caught on tape, certainly."

"You really are a bastard, aren't you?" Weiss replied, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"The precise opposite, in fact." That response caused Weiss to narrow her eyes even further and seemingly left her without a good retort at hand. After an extended moment of looking at her brother with disdain, she turned towards her teammates.

"Alright team, there is no danger here." She announced, clearly trying to sound as though she was a leader already. "Let's head back for the cliffs at once."

"Good luck on your journey there. Me and Nora still have Relics to retrieve."

"Do we really have to go right now?" Ruby asked. "You said we will be able to celebrate later, and later is now, so..."

"At once." Weiss insisted. "Our grade might be tied to the time we take to complete our task. We should not fiddle about." With these words, the while-haired girl turned around and marched in the direction that probably would lead her to the cliffs eventually.

"...fine, have it your way." Ruby sighed and followed Weiss, waving Yang goodbye. Pyrrha and Ren followed behind, leaving the other four huntsman alone in the forest clearing, though not before Ren got another tight hug from Nora and Pyrrha said her goodbyes to each person separately.

The smile wouldn't leave Jaune's face. All in all, the situation was developing quite nicely for him. He got to survive his first battle as a huntsmen, kill an old Grimm personally and probably managed to look a lot better than Weiss during all of this. His sister failed to outshine him, though she no doubt did her best to achieve that goal.

But then again, she had already scored a major win by recruiting Pyrrha Nikos into her team...

That reminded him of something. Something that managed to wipe the smile off his face, as it presented itself as an issue he had to deal with somehow. Jaune sighed and turned towards Yang and Blake.

"We put on a good fight together." He said, stating the obvious. "If you want to form a team with us, I think that would be great."

"I don't have a problem with that." Yang replied, shrugging nonchalantly. Jaune expected this sort of reaction from her, since the blonde did seem to be at least somewhat fond of him and didn't seem like the one to care very much about who she would be teamed up with. It wasn't Yang who really concerned him there.

For several seconds, Blake simply stood in place, as though thinking intensely. Jaune still wasn't sure why the girl was so opposed to him, or rather his family name, but he could bet there were some good reasons for it.

"Fair enough." Blake finally said. "Let's form a team together."

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked. Doing so was probably not his best option, since he counted on Yang and Blake joining his team, but it felt like the right thing to do in this situation. "Nobody says you have to agree. I'll understand if you just don't want to deal with me for the next four years."

"No, I..." Blake sighed, as though she couldn't find the right words to express herself. "We fought shoulder to shoulder. That basically makes us a team already. Let's just get another Relic to make it all official."

Jaune nodded in response. No more words needed to be said between them, or at least neither of them had any idea what to say next. The four huntsmen stood there in silence, wordlessly acknowledging the moment they effectively became teammates.

"Hurray team!" Nora exclaimed. "I wonder what name they will give us. Or who will be made a leader. Do you think I would make a good leader Jaune? I should probably get myself something so that people will know I'm the leader. Like a crown, no, a pirate hat! Will you wear a pirate hat if you end up as a leader Jaune? I kind of hope Blake will be the leader, she would look awesome in a pirate hat!"

Those four years were sure about to be interesting...

* * *

The auditorium was once again full of people, but now the atmosphere was completely different than a day before. Whereas back then the students were impatient, secretly nervous and bracing for an incoming battle, now they felt largely triumphant and self-satisfied. Every young person who made it through the initiation – and there were maybe half as many of them as there had been the original participants – felt as though they accomplished something significant, proven their worth to the world and made their first steps on a new road that now stood before them

Weiss mostly shared that mood, though from somewhat different reasons than the most. She never truly doubted that she could pass the initial exams to Beacon, so she felt hardly any triumph or pride at having succeeded. She felt proud of herself because she had succeeded in passing the exam, got herself an unusually strong team to say the least and fought a truly powerful Grimm at the end, which would surely serve to make her look good in the eyes of the teachers.

Of course, the situation wasn't exactly perfect. For one, Jaune was still at Beacon and in a fairly good position himself. He arrived at the cliffs a while after Weiss had, having apparently formed a team with Yang and that strange girl called Blake. Given Blake's apparent reluctance to form a team with Jaune – probably something about the Schnee family, since she didn't seem too fond of Weiss either – this was somewhat surprising and not in a good way. Since the four of them had managed to kill the Death Stalker together, it logically stood that Jaune, Blake, Nora and Yang were quite strong when fighting together. Probably not as strong as Weiss' team, as having the Invincible Girl in the squad was a real game breaker, but likely somewhat close to it. And, as her brother was all too happy to point out, the events of the initiation did paint him in a very favorable light.

Well, there was nothing to be done about that now that the initiation was over. Both of them had made their moves and all they had to do now was to wait for the verdict.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Headmaster Ozpin listed the names of four young men in front of him. The eighth of ten teams of people who managed to pass the initiation. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

A round of obligatory applause echoed throughout the hall. Whether it was deserved or not was up for discussion – from what Weiss had heard, that particular team had luckily managed to get through the initiation without encountering many Grimm, certainly none as powerful as the ones she and Jaune had to face. Maybe the difficulties she and her brother experienced was the reason why their teams were the last in the line to be officially approved and given a leader.

Or maybe it was just an appropriate coincidence. Who could truly know?

Weiss observed as the four other students walked up to the stage. All of them displayed confidence with their stances, though in somewhat different ways. Whereas Jaune did his best to show only a slimmer of pride – indicating that the challenge hadn't been particularly tough for him – Yang and Nora both wore smug, self-satisfied grins on their faces.

Blake... she was somewhat harder to decipher. Weiss usually had no trouble reading people's emotions based on their facial expressions, but that was pretty hard with Blake's current one – it wasn't quite blank, but didn't overtly express any emotions either. She was probably happy to have reached her goal, but she didn't seem all that proud for some reason. Was that connected to Jaune somehow? Did her dislike of the Schnees overwhelm the satisfaction of becoming a huntress? There was no answering those questions, not with Weiss' current level of information.

"Jaune Schnee." Headmaster started listing names once again as four faces filled the giant screen above his head. "Blake Belladonna. Nora Valkyrie. Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you have retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNBY."

Another obligatory round of applause. Weiss joined in on the clapping out of politeness, but her mind was occupied with something other than admiration for the fellow students.

"Lead by... Jaune Schnee!" Headmaster announced with pause for dramatic effect, just as with the other teams. Sort of pointless, since by now everyone knew that the team names always started with the leader's initial.

Jaune being made a leader of his team was unfortunate, but completely expected. Whether he lived up to the Schnee standard of cunning was debatable, but he was still significantly smarter than most Beacon students it seemed. He would certainly make for a better leader than Yang, who lacked the required scrutiny or Nora who lacked basic sanity. Weiss meekly hoped that Blake would end up leading Jaune's team, since out of all his teammates she seemed most clever and resourceful.

But alas, everything went as expected. Jaune bowed politely upon hearing the verdict, Yang punched him not-so-lightly on the shoulder, Nora raised her fist in the air as a sign of triumph and Blake only grimaced slightly, clearly indicating that the outcome didn't fill her with much joy – that emotion Weiss could read without much difficulty.

Blake's disdain was truly interesting, and not just from the curiosity standpoint. One of Jaune's teammates being unhappy with his leadership was something Weiss had to take advantage of at one point. It opened up quite a few interesting possibilities...

A light tap on the shoulder from Ren made Weiss snap out of her musings and realize that their turn to enter the stage had come. The heiress approached the Headmaster alongside her teammates, her head raised and her walk graceful as ever. Her face appeared on the screen alongside three others, signaling that it was time for the final team to be established.

Weiss wasn't particularly nervous about that. While her performance during the initiation admittedly left some things to be desired, she was still the best choice for a team leader, if only by the virtue of all her teammates being... less than suitable for a job. Weiss had nothing but respect for them, of course, but everyone with half an eye could see that none of these people would make a good leader.

Ren and Pyrrha both seemed fairly smart, sure, but they suffered from the same problem – they lacked the initiative that every leader ought to exhibit. No matter how far she stretched her imagination, Weiss couldn't imagine either of them barking orders in a middle of a fight. As for Ruby... well, Weiss actually felt a lot of things other than respect towards the girl. Ruby had proven herself reckless, impulsive and hotheaded, not to mention was literally the least experienced of all the Beacon students at the moment, if her age was any indication. Sure, she did come up with something resembling a plan during their fight with Nevermore, but its success was more a matter of luck than anything else. Besides, Nevermore's arrival to the temple was Ruby's fault in the first place – something teachers would surely not forget while judging their student's performances.

"Weiss Schnee." Headmaster Ozpin started listing once more. "Ruby Rose. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. The four of you have retrieved the white queen pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team RRWP."

Weiss blinked in surprise. For one, what on Dust was a "rupee"? Wasn't that some ancient monetary unit? And what color did that represent? More importantly though, didn't that mean that Weiss was _not_ going to be a team leader? Since the team's name began with an "R", the Headmaster must had decided that Ren is the best choice for the leadership position after all.

Unless the Headmaster had made a worse decision still, but that was highly improbable. No one would ever think that the team was best off...

"Led by... Ruby Rose!" Ozpin said, probably louder than all the other times. Ruby got frozen by shock as the crowd began to cheer. The applause was significantly louder than any of the other times, as people were willing to put extra effort to celebrate the formation of the tenth and final team.

Weiss could bet that Jaune was clapping exceptionally hard at the moment.

Pyrrha was saying something to Ruby and so did Ren, but Weiss didn't particularly care about her surroundings at the moment. Her mind was trying to analyze all the consequences of what had just happened, desperately trying to comprehend the situation. It made some trace amount of sense, since Ruby did show an ability to form a plan in the middle of a battle, but still... how did Weiss lose to that _dunce_ for the position of a leader?

Did that mean Weiss had lost her game against Jaune? No, it was a failure, but not a crippling one. Acting as a leader would allow her to get more credit for the team's achievements, but it she was still better off provided her team was the strongest one around... although that wasn't a given anymore, not with Ruby as its leader.

What steps should be taken? What steps could be taken? Weiss didn't knew, she wasn't prepared for a situation such as this. There had to be something she could do to convince others that letting Ruby lead them was a _bad_ idea. There was surely some plan that would allow her to salvage the situation. All she needed to do was to figure it out. Yes, forming a plan was her first priority.

"So, the great team RRWP is formed!" Ruby said, once the initial shock wore off. "Oh, we are gonna have so many fun adventures together!"

It was an absolute priority.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin said, a slight smile adorning his face.

* * *

 **To those who care a little bit, but not enough to make a quick internet search; Janbiya is a type of dagger hailing from Middle East. It can be associated with steel it is made out of, so it technically counts as a color reference. Rupees are coins used in India and some adjacent countries, so you could argue that the name references color such as silver, though I admit it's quite stretched. Naming teams is hard, alright?**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry for disappointing you if you were counting on some sort of surprise, but Ruby and Jaune are still team leaders in this alternate scenario. Whatever reasons Ozpin had for picking them over the other students hold weight here as well, possibly more in Jaune's case. I briefly considered making Weiss a leader so that I could call the team WRPL – which would sound way cooler – but even though she is a little smarter here than in canon, she retains all the major problems of her canon self, including a nasty sense of entitlement and the social skills of a great white shark. I am going to handle these issues differently than the show did, so I promise there won't be a repeat of her Volume 1 development inserted into this story. Not going to say anything else, because spoilers suck.**

 **Well, only if the work continues to the point when these spoilers come into play. And only if someone is willing to read it. Neither of which is a guarantee with my writing.**


	8. Chapter 8

Nights in Vale were never truly dark. Even now, almost an hour after midnight, million lights shined even brighter than the Moon in the sky. Be it night or day, city such as this simply couldn't be asleep, not even for a moment. Countless thousands of people walked the streets, all for their own reasons. Some wanted entertainment, some had jobs that required them to work during the night, some were criminals who thought they had a better chance of getting away with their deeds under the cover of relative darkness.

And some people were planning how to best commit mass murder together.

Three of these people now sat around an oval table, on the lowest storey of a large, officially abandoned storehouse. Grim it may sound, the room itself was actually very cozy. It had some high-quality carpets, the lighting was good and the walls were thick enough not to let the coldness of the night creep in. Cinder wouldn't have it any other way – it simply wouldn't do for such an important group of people discussing such important matters to meet in a place that failed to meet the basic standards for elegance.

Although, while the location did reflect the importance of the meeting fairly well, the participants did not. While Cinder was, naturally, perfectly elegant in her crimson dress and just serious enough for the occasion, the two men accompanying her left a lot to be desired. It wasn't their attire, since they both wore high-quality clothing, it was just who they _were_ that irritated Cinder quite a bit.

Roman Torchwick, the self-proclaimed master criminal, was irritating mostly because he was actively trying to be. He would often crack idiotic jokes for seemingly no reason, kept asking about details that he really had no business knowing and showed little to no respect towards his superiors, unless directly threatened – and even then, he would maintain a certain level of smugness. While he was hardly the most powerful of fighters and was nowhere close to Cinder in terms of power, he was still valuable to the plan and that gave him partial immunity. That was not to say he couldn't be disposed of – Cinder was fairly sure she could achieve her goals even without Roman to help out. But it would be significantly more complicated, and thus the annoying thief needed to stay by Cinder's side. For the time being, in any case.

The other one was annoying in a completely different manner. Adam Taurus, the commander of the Valish division of the White Fang and one of the organization's most powerful warriors. He was even more useful than Torchwick for these reasons, and it irritated Cinder to no end, as she would _really_ love to kill the man on the spot. Everything about him, form his sense of superiority to the need to state how much he hates humanity every couple minutes, was utterly, undeniably infuriating to an extent which Cinder hadn't thought possible before meeting the bull faunus several months prior. Even the way he looked right now, in his black suit and with a mask covering his face, was somehow irritating. It was a demeanor of someone who craved for attention, more fitting for an angsty teenager than a terrorist leader.

And yet, Adam was a necessity. For all her cunning, for all the strength she and her underlings possessed, Cinder would not be able to succeed without the sheer manpower White Fang could provide. While there were likely some ways to gather the forces necessary outside of the White Fang, it would take far too much time for Cinder liking and likely make her current plan impossible to carry out. She entertained the idea of killing Adam the moment Beacon had fallen, but that too didn't seem very practical. Salem herself would likely find herself interested in that man, if more for his position in the White Fang than anything else. Tragically, Cinder had to keep Adam Taurus alive in order to pursue her goals properly.

Still, she could kill Adam if that proved necessary. If the bull faunus ever decided to betray Cinder, he would die plain and simple. That threat had been made abundantly clear back when they started working together and persisted to this day, making Cinder the dominant in the relationship. They both dominated over Torchwick, since the thief was both less valuable and physically weaker than Adam. It was a simple dominance hierarchy, one far simpler than one you could find among pack animals like wolves or lions, since there wasn't a mating element involved – Cinder would never consider getting intimate with any of these exceptionally annoying males, even if it would make them more loyal.

Then again, none of their trio placed much value upon loyalty. In this regard, they were all worthy of respect. Even though none of them would show any towards the other two.

"And so, thanks to my effort, we have acquired several crystals of rare and valuable dust." The thief said, leaning back in his seat. He had just finished reporting his success in the recent dust robbery and seemed very proud of his accomplishment. Or maybe he was just playing proud to seem even more annoying than normally. There was really no telling with that fool.

"Truly an amazing feat." Adam commented, somehow managing to put irony in his voice without changing its usual tone very much. Still, he earned points from Cinder for pointing out the other criminal's limited usefulness. "Stealing dust from a barely defended store. It's such strength and bravery that will let us achieve our goals."

"Now Adam, let's not be unfair to our accomplice." Cinder said, assuming calm and pleasant tone, more out of habit than to actually make the other two any more comfortable. "He is a major asset to our plans and you can clearly see he is doing his best. I am forced to ask though, how long will it take until we reach our goal regarding dust? We still only possess about a half of what we need for the next step."

"How am supposed to tell, exactly?" Torchwick replied. "I am not collecting corn here. I have no way of telling how the future raids will go. For all I know, I might get injured or killed during the next one, not for my own fault of course, but through the incompetence of the goons I am force to hire. Couldn't the goatman here lend me some of his fabled troops to help me in my task?"

"That's Major Taurus for you, human." Adam growled. "And no, I cannot safely assign any of my men under your command. Most faunus of the White Fang are even less tolerant of your kind than me and will not willingly work with someone like you."

"You know, that's something I just cannot understand about you people. Why limit yourself like that? If working with me will let you kill more people than you otherwise would, why won't you just do it?"

"We don't aim to simply kill people, Torchwick. I don't expect you to understand it, but we are fighting for an ideal, to bring change to the world."

"Ah, forgive me please. I simply failed to see how the murder of random people helps your species in any way. Tell me, how many humans will you have to kill before some magical change..."

"Calm down Roman." This time, Cinder felt a need to correct the redheaded man, as he was pushing his luck rather far. "You should not questions your ally's ideals in this manner, even if your concerns are legitimate." She then turned towards the faunus, who seemed quite angry at the moment, but luckily wasn't furious enough to do anything _too_ stupid just yet. "Adam, are you certain that none of your men would be willing to aid Roman in his escapades? I am sure even a small amount of troops would make his task far easier."

"I suppose I could figure something out." Adam replied, after a moment of silence. "I don't have any division of human lovers under my command, but there are probably some individual who could be persuaded to work even with someone like him. Though it will take time."

"I will count that matter as resolved." Cinder didn't want to start a discussion regarding the specifics, as she wanted that meeting to come to a close as soon as reasonably possible. "Speaking of your organization, what exactly does the High Leader think about our cooperation?"

"You mean Sienna? She doesn't know that much in the first place. All she knows is that I have some human allies, which she is willing to tolerate. If she knew the extent to which we work together though, she would likely object."

So, Adam had not, in fact, informed his leader about the situation. It was something Cinder had been counting on, though she wouldn't outright order Adam to keep their alliance a secret. Sometimes, the best way to make someone do something was to let them make the decision themselves – especially when you would have no way of knowing whether or not they obeyed your command.

By the Gods, keeping Adam and the White Fang loyal was a challenge even to Cinder's leadership skills. They were all easily manipulated, but there was only so much you could do to control somebody who hated your species and who could, potentially, betray you at any moment and get away with their life. Currently, Cinder could probably kill Adam if he decided to confront her or hunt him down if he decided to turn tails, but once she would enter Beacon, she would be away from the White Fang dwellings and close to some of her most powerful enemies. If the faunus decided to betray her then, they would likely evade all repercussions, save for not being able to participate in a plan not all of them liked anyway. That shaky loyalty of theirs was a problem that could prove deadly in the future.

Luckily, there were some ways to mitigate said problem. One of which Cinder was about to try out.

"Unless either of you has any problems you have not yet mentioned, I think we can bring this meeting to an end." She announced. "I wish you both luck in your respective endeavors, be they connected to our mission or not."

"I would much rather if you joined me on another raid. You are a great help whenever some kid with a scythe appears and gives me trouble."

"I am sorry, but I lack the time necessary. You should be able to handle such incidents yourself from now on, especially since most children with dangerous weapons are studying right now. Speaking of which" Cinder turned towards Adam. "May we speak in private?"

The bull faunus nodded, somewhat reluctantly. Torchwick, much less reluctantly, left the room, twirling his cane as he did.

"Remember to use protection!" The thief said, before disappearing behind a door. Both Cinder and Adam winced at the suggestion, though neither would honor Roman with a response.

"So, what is the matter and what does it have to do with huntsmen students?" Adam asked. Apparently, he was intelligent enough to get the point – not a great achievement, but Cinder expected even less of him.

"My associate from Haven recently gave me an update regarding the huntsmen database." She explained. "New students have joined the academies this day, forty initiates in Beacon alone."

"I know how the system works. You have to understand how your enemies operate."

"I would never doubt that. I just thought you'd recognize few names from that list." Adam's face almost seemed to show interest upon hearing those words. "The Schnee siblings both have been accepted into Beacon and sorted into separate teams."

"I thank you for the news, but they are hardly shocking." The faunus replied. "We are keeping tabs on the Schnees and I knew that the two young ones would be attending Beacon. That they didn't get themselves killed during the initiation is disappointing, but not surprising."

"It is not the main reason why I am mentioning Beacon students. One of the Schnees was apparently lucky enough to be made a leader, of a team with three young women at that." Cinder could see that Adam's interest waned due to hearing such seemingly unimportant news, but she suspected that would change quickly. "I think I heard about one of them before. Blake Belladonna, do you recognize the name?"

 _That_ earned a reaction from Adam. He did his best to hide the emotion, but it was clear that the news, or even just hearing the name of his former partner, made him quite angry. He grimaced and moved one of his arms towards the sheathed sword, as though his first thought was to find the girl and murder her.

"I do not think it will cause us much trouble." Cinder continued, as though she hadn't noticed her interlocutor's reaction. "As far as I'm aware, the girl left your group a while before we started working together. She shouldn't suspect we are up to anything, let alone recognize me as one of the culprits. Still, I thought you deserve to know."

"Thank you." Adam said, clearly struggling to sound calm. "I will consider how this information affects our plans."

"That is all I ask." Cinder nodded. "You can go now. And if you come to any conclusion regarding the Belladonna girl and whether she will become a problem in the future, do not hesitate to discuss it with me."

"I will keep that in mind." Adam gave a reply, upon which he too exited the room.

It appeared as though Cinder's little idea had been successfully utilized. She didn't exactly know what the relationship between Adam and that teen was, but it clearly involved some murderous intent from the former's side. It would make him more dedicated to the cause, more open to the idea of bringing the Beacon Academy down to rubble. He would still be a pain to deal on regular basis, but his loyalty was now less of an issue.

To play on people's emotions like that, to secure their allegiances and to eliminate doubts... even despite all the annoyances, Cinder found her role fairly satisfying.

Outside, the moon slowly lowered itself towards the horizon, the fake night slowly coming to an end.

* * *

There were several ways a person could wake up, some more pleasant than the others. You could wake up all by yourself, to the rays of sunshine and the chirping of birds, which almost made you eager to get up and start a new day. You could be woken up by the sound of an alarm clock or by a servant ordered to do so at the appointed hour – the things that brought you away from the sleep's embrace, but only really bothered you for the short while it took to get up. You could get woken up by nightmares, either conveniently right before dawn or in the middle of the night. This particular type of waking up was definitely not pleasurable, but there was something probably even worse to experience...

"Wake up lazybuds! It's morning! A brand new day awaits us in our new school! Come on, you don't wanna sleep through it all, do you?" A loud, nasal voice chanted, causing Jaune, and likely anyone nearby, to wake up from peaceful slumber and see the light of day.

The newly-accepted huntsmen student opened his eyes to see the room his team had been assigned to last evening. It was a simple dwelling, with four medium-sized beds, enough space to comfortably house as many people and an en-suite bathroom. It wasn't the type of comfort Jaune was used to, but it wasn't terrible either. Before he officially joined Beacon, he half-expected that the Headmaster would take the rough approach and have the students sleep in the ballroom for the entire school year, or maybe even figure out something as dangerous as having them camp in the Emerald Forest each night. But luckily, the accommodations they had been provided with were not much different from what Jaune heard a typical boarding school would have. Besides, even if they had been ordered to sleep in the forest, that would hardly be Jaune's worst problem.

By dust, it sounded so rude, even in his thoughts. Sitting up, Jaune looked over his teammates, the people with whom he was suppose to spend the bulk part of the next four years with. Nora was running around the room, praising the benefits of getting up early, somehow already fully dressed in her school uniform and extremely energetic. His other two teammates had far less energy at their disposal, as they were both struggling to get up from their respective beds. Unlike Nora, they were still dressed in their pajamas and had their hair in disarray, but that barely made them look any less attractive than usually. An interesting phenomenon, given how women tended to look significantly worse in the early morning – or maybe that was just a Weiss thing? It's not like Jaune had that much experience with girls.

And wasn't that ironic? Back when Jaune first started making plans for what he wanted to achieve while in Beacon, ending up as a leader in a team with three unusually pretty and unusually strong females seemed like a perfect scenario. And it would be a perfect scenario, if only those were some other females sharing a team with him.

Again, it felt unfair to categorize his teammates as 'the worst people possible'. None of them was bad on their own – they all had their unique, seemingly effective fighting styles and none of them seemed like an absolute jerk. If anything, it was _him_ who made the team less than perfect. He managed to antagonize Blake, be it through his family name alone or some behavior of his, which would make the girl less cooperative. He found it hard to properly work with an embodiment of chaos that was Nora, who might or might not have held a grudge towards him for bumping into her during the initiation. Yang was certainly the least problematic, but if she developed a habit of teasing him as she had done a day earlier, it could lead to some problems regarding the professionalism of their cooperation.

And then there was the tactical aspect of things. Once again, each of the girls was a good fighter on their own. Jaune honestly doubted he could defeat any of them in direct combat. The issues were how their abilities complemented, or rather didn't complement each other. Weiss, whether she realized it or not, had really come out better out of the initiation. She failed to become a team leader, sure, but she got a team consisting of a powerhouse that was Pyrrha, a sniper and a heavy hitter that was Ruby and Ren, who apparently was not only a good fighter himself, but also had the ability to mask himself from the Grimm. With Weiss and her glyphs, that team could become a tremendous battle force – though for Weiss to perform at her best she would have to realize that she would be most useful playing the support role, which was unlikely to happen any time soon given her attitude.

Jaune's team wasn't balanced in a similar manner. It consisted of three melee fighters and a girl whose main offence were explosives – which was _not_ a good combination. Now that Jaune thought about it, the Death Stalker fight would have gone far smoother if they had someone able to shoot the monster's eyes from a distance, instead of stepping within its range of attack. Perhaps Blake was capable of high-precision shots – Jaune hadn't gotten a good look at her weapon yet – but it was no sniper rifle. Their combat options were sadly limited, at least when it came to direct attacks.

Although, maybe there were some ways around that. Weapons weren't everything – there were also semblances, various aura-manipulation techniques and individual talents, some of which were not obvious from simply seeing somebody fight. In hindsight, perhaps Jaune should have asked the girls at least about their semblances – the fact that he didn't spoke poorly of his qualifications as a leader, and maybe hinted at some kind of bias of his.

"Nora, why would you wake us up at... six?" Blake asked, looking at her scroll, clearly unsatisfied with her awakening.

"Yeah, don't we have a couple more hours before the lessons start?" Yang backed her partner, though she sounded somewhat less sleepy.

"There is nothing wrong with having an hour of three headstart, right Jaune?" Nora replied, turning towards her leader at the last part.

"While my partner doesn't seem to understand what headstart means" Jaune said, standing up from his bed. "She is not exactly wrong. We have some things to discuss, the sooner the better."

"What, are we preparing some grand strategy for the lessons?" Blake asked, sleepiness in her voice giving way to... not sarcasm, not quite, but a kind of snarky skepticism she exhibited back at Emerald Forest. Jaune would probably find it annoying, but he was braced for that kind of treatment from the black-haired girl.

"Something like that, yes." Jaune responded. "But let's all get dressed first."

"And washed." Yang nodded. "I call dibs on the shower, by the way."

It later turned out that Yang intended to fully utilize her right to the shower, staying there far longer than Jaune would think was necessary even for her unnaturally long hair. It wasn't too much of an issue though, since it gave the rest of them the time to properly unpack their things and it gave Jaune the time to make a list of the things he wanted to talk about. By the time everyone was finished with their hygiene procedures, they still had over two hours left before the lessons started – Nora's 'headstart' truly came in handy.

At Jaune's request, everyone soon sat down on their respective beds. It hardly looked like a professional meeting, without any blackboard or a screen to display presentations, but it was as serious as it could plausibly get considering the circumstances.

"So, what is this about?" Yang asked, still brushing her hair offhandedly. "Do you have another prophecy you'd like to share with us?"

"Yeah, who's the chosen one?" Nora asked impatiently. "Is it Ruby? Will she have to save the world from some grand evil villain?"

"It is not my place to tell." Jaune replied. "And no, it's nothing quite as serious. I just wanted to make several things clear, those things being mostly our skills and powers."

"You've seen how we fight back in the forest. Do you doubt our abilities even after that?" Blake asked, raising one of her eyebrows.

"I do not doubt any of you in that regard." Jaune assured his teammate. "I just want to know the specifics. More than anything, I would like to know how your semblances work and what emotion you carry with you."

The last part would sound strange to people without the knowledge of aura use, or even people whose knowledge was purely theoretical, but Jaune had no doubt all his teammates understood the question. While each semblance worked in its own unique way, they all had some sort of trigger necessary to use them. Moving your body required you to send electric signals down your neural network and not much else, but aura and semblances were not a part of biological framework in the same way arms or legs were. In order to use your semblance, you needed to achieve a specific state of mind, which usually came down to feeling a specific emotion.

Well, not quite. Sometimes it really was as simple as getting angry or scared, but other times you needed to feel something like a specific desire or a specific fear. The Glyphs, for example, required the user to feel a need to control the world around them. It could be a simple wish to adjust the battlefield for your purposes, but it could also be something more abstract. Weiss and Winter both managed to get a grasp on their semblance by wishing control over their lives and their future – or at least Winter did, according to her own words. Weiss would never openly admit her insecurities like that, for all that it was obvious.

Admittedly, asking somebody how their semblance worked could be considered a very private question, even offensive in some cultures. Still, learning each other talents and even personal feeling was something teammates had to go through eventually. Might as well gain all that knowledge as quickly as possible, instead of waiting a semester or two.

"Well, my semblance allows me to absorb the damage I receive and use it to boost my strength." Yang was the first one to reply. "You know, dishing out the pain others give me, but stronger. All I have to do is get angry once I absorbed enough hits."

Anger, then. According to the study Jaune once read, about one in every three semblance was activated by some variant of rage, anger or resentment. Which made sense, considering that these emotions were the evolution's method of compelling the organism to assume a battle stance.

"But you still have to actually feel the damage?" Jaune asked. "It doesn't get negated or anything?"

"Sorry, my semblance is not a cheat code. My aura still get lowered and everything. No pain no gain, or something."

"And those flames I saw you catch?" Jaune kept on asking. "That's a secondary effect, correct?"

"Yup. It's not really fire, it doesn't eat oxygen and I'm yet to accidentally commit arson. It would still hurt if you touched it, but the damage wouldn't be all that significant. I tried to weaponize it somehow, but it never quite worked." Yang said, and then turned towards Nora with a smile. "But enough about me, even though I'm awesome. What's your semblance? I haven't seen you using it, I think."

"Yeah, my semblance is kind of... situational, I think that's the word." Nora replied. "I can absorb electricity and get stronger at the same time. It works great when there's a nasty storm, but otherwise it's not really that useful."

"So you just wait for a lightning to strike you?" Blake asked, once again with her eyebrow raised.

"Well yes. I know that most people have those powers that they need to activate by feeling or not feeling something, but I just kind of get stronger the more I get shocked."

"That's weird. How did you even unlock it? Did a lightning just randomly strike you while you were walking down the street?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Nora replied bluntly. "And how did you unlock your copycat thing?"

"I..." Blake was visibly hesitant to say anything regarding her semblance. Apparently, she was one of these people who did consider the question somewhat private. "Well, I don't think it matters much how I unlocked it, does it? I can make a clone of myself so that it can take a hit for me. I can combine it with dust for additional effects, but there isn't that much philosophy to it."

"I could buy you some dust if you'd like that." Jaune offered. "I think I will purchase some anyway, for the sake of combat versatility, so it wouldn't hurt if..."

"No thanks." Blake said, cutting Jaune off. "I'm doing great with what I have. Now tell us please, do you have a semblance of your own?"

"No, I do not." Jaune sighed, both at the mention of his lack of semblance and Blake's continued refusal to properly cooperate. "I am yet to unlock mine. And there isn't much to tell about my fighting style, since it is rather simple. I just strike with my sword whenever it's convenient and use my shield whenever necessary."

"You're making it sound so boring." Nora objected. "Give yourself more credit. Gouging the eyes of a giant scorpion is pretty badass."

"Thanks." Jaune responded with a smile "But let's keep going. How are your academic pursuits going?"

"You mean our grades, right?" Yang asked.

"Right, sorry. I mean your grades." Jaune mentally kicked himself for using his father's sort of language. "We are in a school, after all. We should all try to maintain decent grades, if only for the sake of graduating."

"My grades are just about perfect." Yang said, earning looks of disbelief from all around the room. "Hey, it's true. In Signal I had two family members as teachers. I was held to a pretty high standard. Trust me, I won't have problems graduating."

"I never went to a combat school, but I think I will manage as well." Blake was the next to answer Jaune's question. "From what I know, all subjects save history are combat oriented. When it comes to fighting, I'm good in theory as well as in practice."

"How so? I'm not doubting you, but where did you learn theory, if not in a combat academy?"

"Let's call it private schooling." Blake said dismissively. "Didn't you get something similar? Private training and such?"

"I did." Jaune nodded. "I cannot exactly call myself an exemplary student, but I should be alright when it comes to learning."

In that moment, three sets of eyes focused on Nora.

"Well, I'm not an exemplary student either..." The redhead started. "I did get good enough grades to graduate from an academy, but it might or might not have involved, um, taking inspirations from other people's projects..."

"Noble and honorable warriors, everyone." Blake remarked, rolling her amber eyes.

"You're being a jerk, Blake." Yang pointed out. "Can you really say that you never did anything worse than cheating in school?"

"...no, I might have done a few bad things myself." Blake replied after a moment of silence.

"Therefore, let's not judge each other here." Yang proclaimed. "Unless you are about to judge me. I'd gladly listen to someone telling me how awesome I am."

"I think we have better things to talk about." Jaune declined. "We have battle classes today, so I think it's important to prepare for different scenarios and make sure that we look well whatever..."

"Why would we even care about that?" Nora objected. "I mean, I get that we are supposed to do well and be strong, but why worry how we will look?"

So that Jaune could win an absurdly high-stakes popularity contest with his sister, of course. He couldn't say that, of course, since his teammates definitely wouldn't take kindly to being used as assets in his game against Weiss, especially since two of them had someone in Weiss' team who they would probably rather not fight against.

"Alright, forget it." Jaune replied. "We can do something else, like..."

"Hey, maybe we can decorate this place!?" Yang suggested. "I have a poster I would really like to hang somewhere."

"Of course!" Nora exclaimed, jumping upright. "I should have thought about it myself. I have some glitter we can use. Like, a lot of glitter."

Jaune groaned quietly. He didn't like the idea of decorating the room provided to them by the school and he certainly didn't like the idea of covering it with glitter. But he had to build positive relations with his teammates somehow, and if two of them liked the idea...

"Sure. The room could use some decorations." Jaune said, causing Nora and Yang to visibly perk up and Blake to look visibly more annoyed than before. In all honesty, Jaune sympathized with his dark-haired teammate in that regard, but he wouldn't do very well as a leader without the willingness to let his teammates do something silly from time to time.

He just had to keep some limits regarding that silliness...

* * *

There was a certain joy in creating things. Some people took pleasure in painting, writing, or other pointless activities such as these. Ruby had little interest in any such form of 'art', but she still considered herself an artist due to her love for designing things. Not designing posters and stuff like that – she designed real, three-dimensional, practical things. Weapons were the most obvious example, with a masterpiece that was Crescent Rose being the prime evidence of Ruby's talent, but her skills could also be used for other purposes.

"That looks incredibly dangerous." Weiss remarked, looking at two sets of bunk beds that now stood in their room. They were the result of a collective effort from the entire team RRWP, under Ruby's brave leadership of course. They didn't look quite like regular bunk beds, as each one was made from two regular beds, but they were strongly secured by ropes hanged from the ceiling, so they could be called bunk beds for all intents and purposes.

"Oh come on!" Ruby replied, hoping to pass some of her enthusiasm down to her grumpy teammate. "Even if they fall on our heads, it won't hurt that much. We can tank bullets, I'm sure we can handle a bed falling down on us."

"Ruby is right." Luckily, Ren came to his leader's defense. "It's no more dangerous than the things we do on regular basis."

"I concur." Pyrrha added. "Besides, you have to appreciate the efficiency of such a solution. We now have more space to ourselves."

Weiss bit her lip and stood in silence for a moment, clearly struggling to dispute such a fine argument from Ruby's partner. Finally, the white-haired girl sighed in resignation.

"Fine, we will sleep on bunk beds. But may we go already?" Weiss said, pulling out her scroll and pointing towards an hour it displayed. "We only have half an hour before the first lesson starts."

"Um, that actually sounds like a lot." Ruby pointed out. "There is, like, ten minute walk from here to the classroom?"

"Having an excess of time is hardly a bad thing." Weiss retorted. "It is certainly better than being late. Now come, we are gaining nothing by sitting here and arguing."

Ruby felt an urge to point out that 'sitting and arguing' was a good description of Weiss' actions during the past hour, but she ultimately decided against it. Since their task of building bunk beds had been completed, there was nothing stopping them from going to class already.

"Alright, let's go team." Ruby proclaimed. With these words, everyone in the team grabbed their bags and stepped out into the corridor.

Initially, Ruby was worried they would get lost in school, as she had no idea where the class for 'Grimm studies' actually was. Luckily, Weiss soon took the lead and proceeded to guide the team in seemingly correct direction, as she had no doubt memorized the route beforehand. Maybe she learned when all the classrooms were purely to avoid getting lost, or maybe she was hoping for this exact situation to occur so that she could take the lead in Ruby's place.

Because that was just her style, wasn't it? Earlier that day, Weiss complained about Ruby waking her up, complained about Ruby attaching her cape to the school uniform and proceeded to complain about the idea of making bunk beds for half an hour straight. She clearly had some sort of problem with Ruby being in charge, a problem which Ruby struggled to understand. Had she done something to put her skills as a leader in question? Did the other girl had some important reason to be a team leader herself? Was that about showing that she is better than her brother? Or maybe Weiss just hated Ruby from their first meeting, but wasn't willing to just say so?

It made Ruby sad. Really sad. She wasn't exactly looking forward to making friends at Beacon – Yang was definitely being overly insistent on that one – but she was still hoping to have teammates with whom she could get along well. Ren and Pyrrha were just that, nice people who were also great to fight alongside – although she thought Ren could use some larger, multi-form weapon. In this regard, Weiss was an exception to the rule that said team RRWP was cool and easy-going.

Ruby tried to think of a solution to the problem facing her. She didn't know how to make people like her, let alone stop disliking her, but maybe there was some way to make Weiss dislike her at least a little less? Maybe the girl simply had low self-esteem and needed someone to compliment her?

Ruby increased her pace a little, so that she could walk shoulder to shoulder with Weiss. The white-haired girl did not acknowledge Ruby's company in any way, making the task all the harder.

"Um, hey, Weiss." Ruby started, unsure what exactly she wanted to say.

"What's the matter, Ruby?" Weiss replied, glancing in Ruby's direction.

"I just wanted to say..." Ruby searched her mind for compliments she could give. "Your weapon is really cool. It must have taken a lot of effort to make something like that."

"I did not make Myrtenaster myself." Weiss replied. "Forging a weapon of that quality would be way beyond my skills in the area. It was made by one of Atlas' best blacksmiths at a rather high price."

"Oh..." Ruby stayed silent for a second, before deciding to try out another compliment. "You know, your hair looks very nice."

"...thank you, but what does it have to do with anything?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I just wanted to point this out." Ruby decided to ran with the compliment, even if it was rather uncreative. "I like that shade of white. It almost looks natural."

"It _is_ natural." Weiss almost hissed those words. "It is a trait passed from generation to generation of the Schnee family."

So that white hair was a genetic thing? If so, why did Jaune... oh right, adoption. Ruby couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the realization that her compliments made Weiss even more irritated instead of causing her to become more friendly.

She glanced towards Pyrrha with a look that said _A little help please?_ to which the redhead replied with an awkward smile that said _Sorry, I don't know how to help._ Ruby thought intensely hoping to find something, anything to say that would make the situation any less awkward – but before she came up with anything, the team had already reached their destination.

The corridor was mostly empty, sicne there were still over twenty minutes until the class was scheduled to begin. There were only four people already standing by the door, all of which Ruby just so happened to recognize.

"Ren!" Nora exclaimed as she rushed towards the sole man in Ruby's team and proceeded to hug him tightly."I missed you so much!"

"It has only been twelve hours, Nora." Ren replied, but nonetheless reciprocated the hug. Ruby found the display extremely cute, but the bulk of her attention was currently aimed somewhere else.

"Hey sis!" Yang said as she approached Ruby. Luckily, she didn't follow Nora's example and didn't attempt a hug – though calling those strangling attempts of her 'hugs' was probably unfair – and simply patted her sister on the shoulder. "I see you are early as well. I kind of expected you to be late, if I'm to be honest."

"Well, it wasn't really my idea." Ruby murmured. She didn't want to talk about that particular problem with Yang, fearing that her sister would feel obliged to solve it by, for example, punching Weiss out, so she decided to change the subject quickly. "Anyway, why did you decide to come her early? It's not like you to go out before drying your hair." For Yang, washing, drying and brushing her hair every morning was like a sacred ritual nobody was allowed to interrupt. As Ruby knew very well at that point, Yang would much rather be late for something than compromise the state of her hair.

"Oh, that." Yang grabbed a wet strand of her blonde hair and proceeded to toy with it. "I did wash my hair and let it dry, but then I had to wash it again to get rid of all the glitter. I normally would stay until it was dry again, but I figured I'd spare Jaune the stress of possibly being a minute late."

Glitter? Now that Ruby looked at the members of team JNBY, all of them save Yang had traces of glitter somewhere on their clothes or hair. With Jaune and Blake, it was barely noticeable, but Nora actually had it all over her uniform – and it didn't appear as though it bothered her very much.

"Well, it sounds as though you are having fun there." Ruby said.

"Yeah, I think my team is pretty cool." Yang shrugged. "What about yours? Are you all getting along well?"

"...mostly." Ruby replied, as anything more positive would have been an outright lie. She also made a slight head movement in Weiss' direction, indicating that yes, that girl was the source of the trouble and no, Ruby didn't wish to talk about it for fear of getting stuck inside an iceblock.

"Well, it's not all sunshine and rainbows at our place either." Yang said, now more quietly. "Jaune and Blake aren't the best of friends yet. That girl's an expert at finding problems with everything the guy says."

Ruby looked towards the depth of the corridor to see Blake and Jaune, each supporting one of the two walls. They weren't talking to each other, they weren't looking at each other, and they generally didn't act anything like teammates ought to.

Speaking of coldness, Weiss and Blake interacted with each other even less. Somehow, they went beyond not talking or looking at each other and acted as though they refused to acknowledge that the other one existed or had ever existed. Ruby already knew how little those two siblings liked each other, but it still didn't cease to unsettle her. Was whatever rivalry they had between each other really worth acting like that?

"Hey, you don't have to solve every problem you see." Yang said, correctly guessing what her sister was worried about. Not waiting for a reply, she patted Ruby on the shoulder once again and went to talk with Nora about something.

Ruby felt as though she really _was_ obliged to do something, to somehow warm the air between the two. But, no matter how hard she thought about the issue, no solution came to her mind. She had simply no idea how to make these two any more eager to talk or even look at each other – the matter seemed far beyond the reach of her limited social skills. So instead of doing or saying anything, she just stood there in the corridor as more people arrived, until the time finally came and the class began.

Their teacher was an old man calling himself Professor Port. He had grey hair and a mustache, and wore a double-breasted suit which almost managed to hide his sizeable belly. Overall, he was not the kind of person that came to Ruby's mind when she thought 'huntsman' but there was a saying about not judging people based on their appearance alone. She was prepared to sit through whatever lecture the Professor had in store, and so she took a seat next to Weiss and pulled out her notebook, so that she could pretend to be making notes.

To Ruby's disappointment, the lecture turned out to be really boring. Well, lectures were almost always boring, but that one was definitely more boring than the most. It didn't really concern the Grimm themselves, but rather Professor Port and his achievements, as well as the achievements of his father, grandfather, grandmother-in-law... Ruby found the trophy's scattered around the classroom far more interesting than whatever the teacher had to say. They depicted different types of Grimm, from Beowolves to Death Stalkers and everything in between. They were all replicas, obviously, but it still brought back the excitement Ruby felt from being accepted into school that trained people to fight such things.

Not bothering to even pretend that she's writing things down, Ruby killed time by making funny drawings – you didn't have to be an artist to do something creative from time to time – and trying to balance a book on a pencil. Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Ren appeared to pay at least partial attention to the lesson, whereas Weiss constantly switched between making notes and taking deep breaths, as though to calm herself. Apparently, Professor Port's lecture was so boring Weiss found it very irritating. Poor girl.

"The moral of the story?" Professor raised his voice, as though he finally has something interesting to say. "A true huntsman must be honorable! A true huntsman must be dependable! A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated and wise. So, who among you believes to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Silence overtook the classroom.

"Right, humility is a virtue as well." Professor said, and the coughed quietly. "I hardly expected you to think of yourself that highly. Now that I think about it, it would take some sort of narcissist to reply in the affirmative. Let me ask a different question then; Who among you is willing to fight a Grimm right now!"

Several hands shot up in the air. Ruby didn't feel quite brave enough to volunteer – not for fear of getting beaten by a Grimm, but of having to fight publically like that – and neither did any of her teammates. They all had their hands down, including Weiss, which appeared somewhat strange to Ruby given what she had seen of the girl thus far.

"That's better!" Professor was now visibly more satisfied. "Now I have to choose someone out of plethora of volunteers. Let us say... Miss Valkyrie, is that right?"

"That's my name!" Nora confirmed, smiling with her usual brand of joy.

"If you believe yourself strong enough to meet the challenge, I shall prepare a worthy opponent for you. In the meantime, I suggest you change into your combat attire and come back here once you are ready."

"Got it, teach!" Nora said. She then saluted her teacher and ran out of the classroom, presumably heading towards her room.

"Um, Weiss?" Ruby decided to ease her curiosity now that everyone, including Professor Port was more or less quiet.

"What's the matter, Ruby?" Weiss replied, turning to face her teammate.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have this thing going on in which you want to prove yourself stronger than Jaune, right?"

"Well yes, I wouldn't say no to a chance to prove my superior skill." Weiss nodded. "So what?"

"Um, the chance just passed you by. Why didn't you volunteer just now? You could have shown everyone how strong you are."

"Ruby, do I even have to explain that?" Weiss sighed.

"Please do." Ruby requested, now even more confused than a second ago.

"The purpose of this exercise, this fight" Weiss pronounced 'fight' with a deal of irony. "Isn't for the students to prove their skill. It is rather to make us more humble, to temper the overt enthusiasm some students, such as our friend Nora, exhibit. In a few minutes she is going to lose against some powerful Grimm, Professor Port will rescue her and then give a long speech about how we have much to learn and how we shouldn't overestimate our abilities."

"Um..." Ruby glanced down at her teacher. Regardless of what proverbs said about judging people by their appearance, he did not seem like somebody who would make devious plans such as what Weiss described. "I think you might be overthinking this a little."

"I am not." Weiss denied. "Just sit here and watch."

Ruby obliged. A few minutes later, Nora returned to the classroom, dressed in the same outfit she wore during the initiation. True to his word, Professor took the time to set up the cage from which rather ominous growling came. There was clearly some Grimm inside of it, but Ruby wasn't able to tell what Grimm exactly.

"Alright!" Professor Port said, once Nora was standing few meters from the cage and with her weapon readied. He pulled out an axe – which Ruby had to admit, looked like a really cool weapon – and raised it high into the air. "Let the match... begin!"

With these words, Professor Port swung the axe and broke the lock which had kept the cage closed. A shadow jumped out of the cage, a Grimm that Ruby recognized as a Boarbatusk. It charged at Nora and, despite the girl's agile dodge, nearly impaled her with one of its huge tusks.

"See?" Weiss said, as though she had already been proven right. "Boarbatusks are extremely dangerous, at least for students such as us. I doubt that even Myrtenaster would be able to penetrate the natural armor these Grimm possess."

An obvious solution came to Ruby's mind – namely to strike at the boar's unarmored belly instead of trying to penetrate the armor – but something told her that in this particular case, advanced tactics wouldn't prove necessary.

"Right, but Nora has a giant warhammer and that thing isn't all that large. Shouldn't she be able to just..."

Before Ruby got to finish the sentence, Nora charged at the Boarbatusk with her weapon held firmly in two hands. She managed to hit the Grimm perfectly with the face of the hammer, causing the beast to be shot high into the air due to the sheer force of the blow.

Boarbatusk hit the wall in front of Nora with tremendous impact. Most Grimm would just dissipate on the spot from all that damage, but those particular Grimm were very durable. Slowing down only marginally, the beast broke through the wall, leaving a gaping hole behind it, and continued to fly into the blue sky outside.

Silence overtook the classroom once again. This time, it stretched for far longer than the last time. Ruby could see many different reactions from the students around her – Yang seemed amused, Jaune seemed embarrassed, Weiss wore a face of utter disbelief while Ren seemed completely unfazed by the scene in front of his eyes.

"Um, sorry, I didn't mean it." Nora began to exhibit a sudden interest in her combat boots.

"Ah, that is no issue, young lad." Professor Port assured his student. "The building receives such damage regularly. As for the beast I told you to slay, I doubt it was able to survive the fall."

A high-pitched scream came somewhere from the outside.

"But doubt is just one more thing a huntsman must purge out of their psyche." Professor proclaimed, not changing the self-satisfied tone of his voice even a little bit. "I have an idea; Whichever team manages to catch the beast before it seriously injures someone will have their grade increased on the next exam. As for the lesson, I'm afraid it's already over, since that's all I prepared for today."

"Well guys," Ruby said, standing up. She did her best to sound confident and enthusiastic, as true leader should. "It looks like team RRWP has another mission to carry out."

"I hate this school." Weiss groaned, massaging her palm.

* * *

 **And that was our chapter for today. As you probably noticed long before, Blake is significantly more antagonistic here than in canon. While this is a change that is hard to explain by the butterfly effect, I still decided to introduce it, because come on, it makes sense. One of her closest friends got orphaned because of the SDC and her former lover got a huge 'fuck you' brand burned onto his face. That is bound to generate some serious negative feeling towards the company and anyone who wishes to run it. And that's ignoring the fact that Blake spent the last five years in a cult of human haters, which makes me wonder why she is completely fine with fighting side by side with humans just like that.**

 **Also, I hope you didn't mind the 'villain segment' at the beginning. I figured that, with the initiation arc being over, I should start setting up the challenges for the future, as Cinder is unlikely to abort her plans just so Weiss and Jaune can play their little game in peace.**

 **Though of course, whether the story will ever reach that point remains in question.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So, I could give some excuses for why I went on my longest hiatus yet, say how hard writing is or how I was stuck in Romania for a week or how people won't stop bothering me… but maybe it will be better if I get to the chapter right away. Enjoy.**

* * *

Weiss truly meant it when she said she hated Beacon.

It was a foolish thing to say out loud. Even though their teacher didn't hear it - or if he did, he didn't pay it the slightest bit of attention - it was still unbecoming of her to express her feelings, especially the negative ones, so clearly and directly.

And yet, that feeling was simply too strong to be kept hidden. The more Weiss thought about the Beacon Academy, the more crazy it appeared. The fact that it was situated in a castle, that it used a deadly challenge as its entrance exam, that the teachers had seemingly no idea what they were doing... each one of these things could pass as an example of simple incompetence or oddity, but together they painted a coherent picture. A picture of pure, distilled insanity.

It wasn't what she had expected as she signed up. She expected Beacon to be more similar to Atlas Academy which, at least according to Winter, was well-organized and rigorous when it came to training huntsmen and huntresses. Weiss knew Beacon wouldn't be exactly like its Atlesian equivalent, but she still expected the people in charge to take the matters seriously. She expected that her abilities would be tested in a reliable manner, that the teams would be selected with regards to how well they would end up performing and that, if she was not meant to be a leader, she would end up following someone who exhibited a level of professionalism. Instead Weiss got to be thrown off a cliff, went through a nearly random selection process and her leader ended up being...

"Weiss, are you upset?" Ruby asked, standing over Weiss as the heiress polished the blade of her weapon. It wasn't exactly dirty, since she hadn't gotten to properly use it that day, but it was still worthwhile to keep such an expensive weapon well-maintained.

At the moment, both girls sat in the otherwise empty locker-room. They had just finished the hunt for a rogue Boarbatusk and had a lot of time before the next lesson, so polishing weapons seemed as good a way of spending time as any.

"No Ruby, I am not." Weiss responded with a blatant lie, hoping that her team leader would take a hint and leave her alone. That, of course, was a forlorn hope.

"Are you mad because we didn't catch the Boarbatusk first?"

"I told you, I am not upset." Weiss replied, clenching her fingers tighter around the blade she was polishing.

"Alright... but if you are upset, there is really nothing to be upset about." Ruby reassured her teammate. "Yeah, team FAIL beat us to the punch and it sounds kind of lame, but it wasn't anything really important, you know?"

Weiss stood up from a bench she'd been sat upon. Myrtenaster was clean enough by now and there was not much point using any more time on maintenance. Especially if it meant spending that time around Ruby Rose.

"I will rest for a while." She said, turning away from Ruby and making her first step down the corridor. "We have a combat lesson in less than two hours and it's important that we..."

"Why won't you talk to me?!" Ruby asked, suddenly raising her voice. I was surprising enough for Weiss to freeze in place for a second, before turning around to face her teammate once again.

"Ruby, I'm talking to you at this very moment." The heiress responded calmly.

"Well not like... yes, we're talking, but..." Ruby clearly struggled to find the right words. "Why can't we really talk to each other? Why can't you tell me what bothers you and what you think, like teammates are supposed to?"

"Do you find me a bad teammate?" Weiss raised her eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but we cooperated fairly well in battle and I am yet to disobey a single order of yours. Even when I disagreed with you, like with those bunk beds of yours, I still did what you asked."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Ruby protested. "We might work together, but that's not all there is to forming a team. We are supposed to be companions to each other, to be friends."

"I'm sorry, is making friends in the curriculum somewhere?" Weiss knew that she wasn't being wise by saying those words, but at that moment, she didn't care about consequences enough to stop. "I didn't know the school got to dictate who I'm supposed to befriend. Maybe I should also ask the Headmaster who I am supposed to date? We are supposed to work together, to protect each other, but that does not require us to be friends."

Ruby stayed silent for a long moment. She lowered her eyes, confidence fading.

"You know, my parents were attending this school as well." Ruby's voice was not angry anymore, but meek and sad instead. "Even before they fell in love with one another, they weren't just coworkers. They were friends. They killed monsters together, they bonded, they… why won't you even try to be friends with me?"

Suddenly, Weiss found herself conflicted as to what she was supposed to feel. Ruby's disappointment did make her feel somewhat guilty… but then again, if the girl was sure she would make friends with all her teammates, despite lacking the social skills necessary, then she could only blame herself for that disappointment.

After all, it wasn't as though Weiss was actively choosing to dislike Ruby. There simply wasn't much to like, not from her perspective at least. Hyperactive, immature, disaster-wrecking teens were not the kind of people she was used to, not the kind she had been hoping to interact with. The whole issue of team leadership aside, she just couldn't see herself ever becoming friends with Ruby.

Still, saying all that to Ruby's face felt too cruel. So instead of replying in any way, Weiss simply averted her gaze, just as Ruby had. Two huntresses stood in an empty locker room, neither willing to say a word.

"I'll go sharpen the blade on Crescent Rose." Ruby said after about a minute. "I'd rather not lose my first fight this year. We'll see each other in the classroom, alright?"

"I won't be late." Weiss replied. Ruby nodded her head and exited the locker room, her head still lowered and her eyes stuck on the floor.

Weiss sighed. She realized that she hadn't made the situation any better with her outburst, but then again, she had absolutely no idea how to improve said situation in any way. All the tips her father gave her about interacting with people assumed she would be in a position of power. Here, she had no idea what she was supposed to do, how to act or what to say.

Maybe Jaune would know what to say. He had always been better with words than her, the one advantage he always held over his sister. But asking him for help with the issue he had no interest resolving was obviously out of the question. Weiss would have to deal with her issues on her own… even if she currently saw no way to do that and it didn't seem like she was about to come up with any brilliant ideas any time soon.

Well, sitting alone in a locker room probably wouldn't help her very much. Her imperfect situation was no excuse for idleness.

Sheathing the Myrtenaster, Weiss exited the room as well. There was no point training right before a lesson, so she decided she would instead catch some fresh air instead. Maybe she would go on a quick jogging session, though that would require her to change her clothing twice, taking at least an extra hour of her time…

"Something went wrong, I presume?" As Weiss passed through the door, she heard a male voice address her. Upon turning around, she saw a tall man she immediately recognized as the headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin.

"It's nothing serious, headmaster." Weiss replied, making sure to keep anger out of her voice. While she had no warm feelings towards the man who threw her off a cliff and appointed Ruby as her leader, making an enemy out of the Headmaster would be an extraordinarily bad idea. "Everything is largely in order."

"Are you sure?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow. "I have just seen Miss Rose pass through, completely lost in thoughts. She failed to notice me, so large were her worries it seemed."

"We had a little argument." Weiss admitted. "It might have gotten somewhat heated at one point."

"Care to tell me what that argument was about? Maybe I can do something to help?"

Weiss considered the offer. Bothering the headmaster with her personal issues seemed inappropriate and maybe even childish… but the problem was rather major and it couldn't hurt too much to ask Ozpin for help. Even if he was just asking out of curiosity or perceived obligation, Weiss would at least get an opportunity to present the situation in a light that made her look good.

"Well, I have some doubts about Ruby's capabilities as a team leader." The heiress started. "She acts with blind enthusiasm, be it in combat or in casual situations. She behaves rather childishly, even for her age. Speaking of which, I believe she is the youngest Beacon student currently enrolled, which would logically make her one of the least experienced ones. While she might yet prove me wrong, I currently doubt if she has the experience necessary to lead our team."

"I see…" Ozpin assumed a 'thinker pose', placing a hand under his chin. "Are you sure those are your real reasons for resenting Ruby as your leader?"

Dust damn it. On the second thought, it had to be rather obvious why Weiss disliked Ruby so much, especially to an eye as experienced as that of the Headmaster Ozpin. Now she had to retain some dignity and avoid coming off as entitled.

"Does it matter ?" Weiss replied, shrugging as to accentuate her question. "I admit, I might be biased against Ruby here, but that doesn't impact the validity of my complaints, does it?"

"You are correct, yet not quite." Ozpin replied in a cryptic manner. "Would you mind if we talked somewhere else? A corridor such as that isn't the best place to discuss sensitive matters."

Weiss nodded in response, prompting the headmaster to turn around and march deeper into the corridor. The heiress followed, leaving the locker room behind and walking towards… she wasn't yet sure where they were walking towards, but she felt there was no point asking.

"You see, Miss Schnee, your bias does not invalidate your arguments in any way." Ozpin said in a calm, yet confident tone that suited a teacher such as him perfectly well. "As they say, the dumbest of fools could say the moon is shattered and it wouldn't make it assemble into one. Please take no offence I would never consider you a fool, of course."

"No offence taken." Weiss replied. "And I studied logical fallacies. Ignoring my arguments in favor of discussing my motives instead would be… argumentum ad persona, I'd say?"

"I am impressed by your knowledge of rhetoric." Ozpin replied, taking a turn into another corridor. "You are indeed not a fool. And yet, I doubt you have ever studied rationality or scientific method, and thus some of the rules of logical reasoning elude you."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked, for a brief moment letting her indignation show. "For every complaint I made, I can point out to a piece of evidence that proves it. I am no scientist, but I believe that is how rationalists generally operate."

"Again, you are not quite wrong, not quite correct." As Ozpin said those words, the two of them passed through a door and stepped onto a roof. The sky was clear and the sun was shining down at them, creating a rather pleasant atmosphere. "There is a thing called rationalization, and it is far more insidious than it sounds. When researching a hypothesis, scientists always start from the point of neutrality. They gather the evidence and observe where it point towards, not the other way around. You may have the most logically sound of arguments confirm your thesis, but it matters not if you only ever wanted to prove that thesis, not to find the most rational explanation for the phenomenon at hand."

"I give up." Weiss proclaimed. "May we use simpler language from now on? I don't think I can follow this reasoning."

A quiet chuckle came out of Ozpin's throat. "I am sorry, Miss Schnee. I rarely get to speak with someone who knows as many sophisticated words as me. My students rarely understand what I'm talking about and my teachers far surpass me in that regard."

Headmaster approached the edge of the roof and then stopped, staring at the grounds far below. Maybe he saw something interesting down there or maybe he just figured that standing near the edge would help his presentation.

"But I digress. My point is, the conclusion that Ruby Rose is not fit to be a team leader is clearly flawed. The arguments you used are correct, but they are presented in such a way that ensures you will conclude just what you wanted to conclude." Headmaster turned back towards Weiss and looked at her judgingly, as though he was trying to see if she understood the lesson she was conveying.

"I don't see what's the problem." Weiss tried to retort. "I might be biased, but my evidence cannot. And there is only one conclusion that can be drawn from the arguments I gave you."

"Precisely." Ozpin replied, earning a raised eyebrow from his student. "You gave me arguments from why Ruby isn't a good leader, because that's what you want to prove. And yet I am certain that, if you approved of Ruby's leadership, you could bring me just as many equally good arguments for why Ruby is a good leader and should remain at that position."

Weiss only replied with silence. Even without considering headmaster's words in depth, she knew them to be true. She could probably make a persuasive argument for why Ruby is the best leader her team could have, if only that was her goal.

"If any of the problems you mentioned becomes more apparent, I will take steps to make Miss Rose realize her failings and improve upon them." Ozpin assured his student. "Until then, I can offer you a different type of help. Tell me, why exactly you resent the idea of Ruby Rose being your team leader?"

Weiss spend the next few moments pondering just how much she should tell Ozpin. The fact that she and Jaune were stuck in a mutual rivalry wasn't exactly a secret – indeed, it was fairly obvious to anyone who knew anything about the Schnee family – but she couldn't imagine that asking the headmaster for help in beating Jaune would turn out to be a good idea.

"It is about recognition." Weiss ultimately decided to settle on a half-truth. "A team leader has more chances to prove their worth on the battlefield and tends to be the one people admire the most."

"I see." Ozpin nodded his head in understanding. "There is a common and incorrect perception that a leader is the most important member of the team. This stereotype will hinder you if you seek glory, but you can still outshine Miss Rose if you try hard enough. And if you decide that following her robs you of well-deserved recognition, you can leave the team the moment you graduate and start your career proper. I would never advise such a decision, but it is certainly on the table."

"Well, I need that recognition now, or at least in short term." Weiss replied. She didn't want to mention the other reason Ozpin's suggestion wouldn't work – namely that with Pyrrha on team, becoming the star through combat prowess seemed impossible – as she didn't wish to derail the conversation.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Ozpin responded. "But does that have anything to do with outshining your brother?"

Weiss' silence was telling.

"Well, I cannot tell you how to best your brother. I deal with politics occasionally, but judging from your actions during the initiation, the war the two of you are waging seems to be more complex than most international affairs." Ozpin's tone didn't make it clear whether he was joking or not. "However, I believe I have a piece of advice which may prove useful to you."

"I will appreciate any advice you may give me, Headmaster." Weiss requested politely. Even if Headmaster wasn't about to help her in any direct way, an advice from someone like him could prove very valuable. Could he offer her some tactical insight? Maybe an advice that would greatly improve her combat skill?

"I think, Miss Schnee, that you should learn how to lose."

* * *

Pyrrha wasn't sure if she liked Beacon.

As she sat in a classroom – if it could be called that – meant for combat lessons and waited for more students she arrived, Pyrrha found herself questioning all her choices. Not necessarily regretting them, not yet, just questioning.

Her main purpose in choosing to attend Beacon Academy was to find a place where she wouldn't be constantly put on a pedestal and treated like a celebrity. She didn't expect that goal to be fully fulfilled – she would still be recognized wherever she went – but she hoped that, in a place filled with exceptional people she wouldn't stand out _too much._ As for why she chose Beacon over all other huntsman academies, it simply seemed like the most optimal choice. Haven Academy wouldn't do, as she would no doubt meet many of her old rivals and fans, neither of which she wanted much to do with. Shade Academy would be less than perfect as well, since it students famously valued strength over anything else and thus everyone would see Pyrrha either as someone to admire or someone to challenge. Atlas Academy could be a good choice, but as far as Pyrrha knew, Atlas had many negative qualities, from its famously prejudiced society to its famously cold weather.

And thus, Pyrrha chose Beacon as the school she would attend for the next four years. Her hopes came partially true, as she got paired up with Ruby – someone who recognized Pyrrha as a championship fighter, yet didn't treat her much differently for it. There was also Ren who, while he never made his thoughts clear on the topic, also didn't seem to treat Pyrrha's celebrity status as a particularly big deal. She could already tell that these two would be amazing teammates for the next four years and maybe even longer.

As for Pyrrha's third teammate… well…

Weiss was exactly the kind of person Pyrrha had been afraid of getting teamed up with. She seemed to think of Pyrrha not as a person, but as some sort of walking weapon. She showed hints of this attitude during their first conversation in the ballroom, seeming very stiff and awkward, but her feelings only became fully apparent during the initiation. She appeared to be constantly judging everyone around her, trying to determine how useful they would be for her purposes. The only times she showed genuine emotion was whenever she felt annoyed, or troubled or outright furious. All in all, she didn't seem like a great person to hang around or to fight alongside for that matter.

Worse yet, she didn't appear to care about any of the things Pyrrha did. If Weiss came to Beacon in order to make friends or because she genuinely wanted to defend people, she didn't let that show. The sole purpose behind most of her action seemed to be outshining, or simply spiting her brother, which didn't rally paint her as some sort of an amazing person. Pyrrha could appreciate the value of rivalry, but whatever was going on between these two… it was more than just rivalry. It was a full-scale conflict, in which the goal was not to improve oneself by surpassing the other person, but specifically to beat that person and nobody else.

Was Jaune any different from Weiss in that regard? Pyrrha had been watching him for quite a while, initially for unsophisticated reasons – he had some nice muscles and Pyrrha did have a thing for blondes – but the more she observed Jaune, the stranger his behavior started to seem. At first glance he seemed far nicer than his sister, as he actually bothered to be nice to people. But was that a sign of actually being a better person, or just of having a better disguise? Pyrrha wanted to give Jaune a benefit of a doubt and assume the former, but there was something that made her believe the latter instead...

"Hi Pyrrha." Someone said quietly and then took a seat next to Pyrrha. After turning around, Pyrrha found out that said person was no one other than her partner and leader, Ruby Rose. Unlike an hour ago, she was wearing her combat attire, complete with a weapon at her side. She seemed unusually sad, one could even say depressed, which was weird considering most people were excited to start their first combat lesson of the year.

"Are you feeling alright?" Pyrrha asked, shifting all her attention onto Ruby. "You seem… unwell."

"I'm not sick." Ruby replied and then sighed. "It's… it's about Weiss."

Of course. If Weiss' behavior bothered Pyrrha so much, one could only imagine how much it had to bother Ruby. The girl clearly wanted her team to be unified and it couldn't be pleasant to watch one of said team's members continuously refuse to cooperate. Or just be nice in general.

"There is a bit of a problem with her attitude." Pyrrha replied, trying not to be too harsh regarding her white-haired teammate. "But I'm pretty sure it will sort itself out in time."

"Will it? Because I sure doubt so." Ruby replied grimly. "Pyrrha… why does she dislike me so much?"

"Are you sure she dislikes you? Maybe she's just…" Pyrrha paused upon seeing her partner's tired glare. Apparently, Ruby didn't appreciate sugarcoating the situation like that. "I don't know. I haven't talked to her about that."

"No guesses?" Ruby kept asking. "No suspicions? Doesn't anything come to your mind?"

Actually, quite a few answers came to mind almost immediately. There was the sense of superiority that probably made it harder for Weiss to make friends. There was the discrepancy in Weiss' and Ruby's personalities, which made it only natural for the two girls to butt heads with one another. But if Pyrrha was to be honest, the main reason for Weiss' behavior seemed to be…

"Jealousy." Pyrrha finally replied. "I've seen that quite a few times. People tend to resent those who have something they have not."

"Is that it?" Ruby seemed genuinely surprised. "Is she just mad at me because I got to be a team leader? It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me…"

"Well, it might seem more important to Weiss than it seems to you." Probably for the reasons that had to do with Jaune, but Pyrrha neglected to mention that. It was only a speculation and one that would only paint Weiss in more negative light. "And I'm not saying that's the only reason for her being jealous. She might just feel overshadowed in general."

"I guess… still, isn't that kind of silly? I've been jealous from time to time, but I don't think it ever got me that bad. Do people really act like that when they get very jealous of someone?"

Yes. As Pyrrha could personally attest, envy could easily turn into resentment or even hatred towards the person you envied. Ambitious people such as Weiss – or just about any aspiring huntsman – had it particularly bad, as jealousy was part of their core drive. It was the main reason why Pyrrha was never able to make friends among fellow fighters, even those who weren't that much weaker or less wealthy than her. It was hard to be truly friendly with someone you were envious off, even if you tried.

Instead of voicing any of these thoughts verbally, Pyrrha simply nodded her head, causing Ruby to sigh deeply.

"Well that's a bummer. Do you think there is anything I can do to make Weiss hate me less?"

Before Pyrrha got to reply, or even think of a suitable response, the conversation had to be cut short. The primary object of the exchange, Weiss Schnee, arrived in the classroom and proceeded to take a sit next to her two teammates.

"Hi Ruby. Hi Pyrrha." Uncharacteristically for her, Weiss didn't pay much attention to the people she was addressing, or anything else for that matter. At the moment, she seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Hello again, Weiss." Pyrrha replied while Ruby stayed awkwardly silent. "Did something happen? You seem bothered."

"Happen? No, not really." Weiss replied, sounding somewhat absent-minded. "I just had a weird conversation. I'll be fine, you don't have to worry."

"If you say so." Pyrrha replied. Ruby still didn't want to say anything, likely for fear of sparkling another fight. And since Weiss didn't intend to converse with Ruby either – be it out of her disdain for the young girl or because she still had her head in the clouds – the three huntresses sat in silence.

 _That_ was Pyrrha's main problem with her team. Not the arguments or the lack of true cooperation, but the unwillingness of its members to actually speak their minds and talk about their problems honestly. The worst thing was, Pyrrha herself was part of that problem – even though she wanted the conflict resolved, she didn't dare bring the topic up, even though she had a good opportunity to. She simply had no idea what to say to make Weiss any more friendly, or to make her understand how damaging her attitude was. Silence seemed like the easiest option available.

I took a few more minutes for the classroom to fill up with students. The members of team JNBY arrived in a group soon after Weiss and then took sits on the opposite side of the circular bleacher arrangement. Ren also arrived on time and, after exchanging few words with Nora, sat down with his teammates. He was just as silent as the rest of them, though in his case, it was his nature rather than disdain towards anyone present.

Of course, just because the members of glorious team RRWP wouldn't exchange a single word didn't mean that everyone else was silent as well. Students were all excited, nervous or just curious to see how their first proper combat lesson would unfold. Several dozen people were chatting with each other, filling the room with constantly growing noise. All this chatter was, however, quickly silenced once the teacher arrived.

Professor Glynda Goodwitch was already known to everyone present, as she had accompanied the Headmaster when he made his opening speech and then helped overseeing the initiation. The woman emanated a strong aura of authority, a combination of her imposing height, confident posture and probably a riding crop she held in her hand. While that aura could be broken pretty easily, as Jaune and Weiss proved the precious day, at the moment it was more than strong enough to make everyone in the classroom stop talking and focus purely on their teacher.

"Welcome, students, on your first combat lesson in this semester." Miss Goodwitch said, her voice loud and clear despite lacking any sort of microphone to boost the volume. It turned out the chamber was fairly acoustic. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch and I will be your instructor during those classes. Before we start, is any team missing one or more of its members?"

There was no reply. Apparently, not a single student dared to skip the lesson.

"Excellent. Since everyone is present, let me explain what this course will be about and what rules you are beholden to respect. My purpose here is to teach you how to best utilize your abilities in combat. More specifically, combat against other aura-capable opponents. While your main purpose as huntsmen will be to combat the Creatures of Grimm, it was decided that it is best if you first learn about those creatures during the course on Grimm Studies."

So combat against other people. Other students, probably. Pyrrha couldn't say she was happy with that – she was eager to learn how to utilize her skills against the Grimm instead of people – but it was only to be expected. Letting students fight against each other was a good way of letting them hone their techniques in a controlled environment and possibly weeding out those who stood no chance of developing enough skill to become huntsmen.

"The theoretical portion of this classes is reduced to the barest minimum. The faculty is well aware that each and every one of you has a unique set of combat skills and we want you to develop them naturally instead of adhering to some specific set of guidelines. That being said," Miss Goodwitch's voice go a little louder "Everyone will have to obey a set of rules during the classes. I want you to listen carefully, as those rules are crucial to the development and safety of everyone involved."

"Firstly, all fights have to be announced and overseen by your instructor. It should go without saying, yet I still mention it because of how important it is to remember. I reserve the sole right to determine who will fight whom, when the spar begins, when it ends and what additional rules apply. Anyone who disobeys that directive, be it by starting a fight outside of the ring or by refusing to stop when ordered, will be forbidden from attending the course until the end of the semester."

Miss Goodwitch didn't bother to ask whether everyone understood. The firmness of her voice and words ensured that nobody would think of breaking that particular rule.

"Secondly, you will be expected to use an appropriate force for an educational spar. This means that no techniques that bypass aura or run a risk of injuring your opponent in any way will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The students with particularly dangerous semblances or weaponry were already notified of the dangers they might posed and given individual sets of guidelines, but even if your abilities haven't been judged as extraordinarily unsafe, you will be required to make every effort that can minimize the risk of injury. If you cause harm to anyone during your fights, the faculty will decide how much fault lies at your side and whether you should be allowed to continue the course.

"Thirdly, there will be no interaction between combatants and the observers once a spar begins. The ones fighting are not allowed to step out of the arena or use the environment outside it to their advantage. The ones outside of the arena will not attempt to interfere with the fight in any way. Hurling insults or giving advice is forbidden and might be punished with detentions. While an urge to help out your teammate might be strong, I ask you to let your classmates utilize their own experience and learn from whatever mistakes they make."

"Lastly, you are only allowed to use weapons your instructor deems appropriate for a given fight. The armament you registered with has been approved, but any additions need to be discussed with me prior to the fight. Is that clear, Mr Schnee?"

"I take offense to being singled out and I fail to see how a simple act of taking a parachute to a test should earn me that kind of attention. " Jaune replied without stumbling, as though he had that answer prepared in advance. "But yes, I will adhere to every one of these rules."

"I am relieved to hear that. Now, if nobody has any questions regarding the rules, I believe we can begin the lesson proper." Miss Goodwitch waited for a second just in case there were actually some questions, before she resumed. "As I said before, only a minimal period of time will be spent learning theory. Developing your own combat styles and learning about your teammates' techniques is far more important than knowing tactics that might be inapplicable to your individual abilities. For that reason, I came up with an exercise that I believe will be appropriate for the opening lesson."

If the students weren't completely silent before, they were now. Everyone started paying even more attention now that the lesson proper was about to begin.

"I want for the members of each team to divide into two pairs. Each one of those pairs will be called into the arena for its members to fight one another until one of them has their aura brought down under a twenty percent mark, or gets removed from the ring. The other combatant will be declared a winner, which I feel a need to clarify, will not impact their final grade in any way as the exercise is designed purely as a way for you to learn each other's fighting styles."

Pyrrha felt an urge to swear loudly. While Miss Goodwitch surely had good intentions when ordering this exercise, this was _not_ a good idea for team RRWP. For one, Pyrrha would probably have to hold back to make her fight not look completely one-sided – all her teammates were skilled, but simply having metal in their weapons made them extremely vulnerable – but it also didn't feel like a good idea to let Weiss fight one of her teammates. Not in her current emotional state.

"Since we only have a little over eighty minutes until the end of the lesson, not all teams will get to perform today. The only ones I require to fight this lesson are Team HART, Team BRNS, Team JNBY, Team CRDL and Team RRWP, in that specific order. I want the first pair to report to me five minutes from now."

A second after Miss Goodwitch stopped speaking, the classroom descended into loud chatter once more. Since nobody wanted to look badly during their fight, they all sought to fight people who weren't much stronger than them. Most teams would probably end up dividing themselves into pairs of mostly equal opponents so that everyone got to look at least decently. Of course, in team RRWP, this would be exceptionally hard…

"We need to decide who gets to battle whom." Weiss proclaimed. Now that something was actually happening, she seemed more focused on reality rather than whatever internal problems she faced. "While it's not my place to decide, I suggest we simply fight our respective partners."

Just the sort of suggestion Weiss was expected to make. Even such a small decision was a calculated move on her part, even if it wasn't obvious at the first glance. If the rest of the team agreed to the suggestion, Weiss would end up fighting Ren, whom she had at least a decent chance of besting, while Ruby would have to face the unbeatable Champion of Mistral. The Schnee heiress would end up putting a respectable performance at worst, while her disliked team leader would almost certainly get defeated by Pyrrha. A perfect outcome.

"It does seem reasonable." Ren replied. "Not that it matters very much. It is just a spar and the entire point is to…"

"I've got it!" Ruby suddenly shouted while jumping out of her seat.

"What exactly do you got?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh well… the strategy for how we split up, of course." Ruby said unconvincingly. "Sorry Weiss, but I'd rather the two of us fight it out. Ren and Pyrrha can fight against each other instead, right?"

This declaration took Pyrrha by surprise. Did Ruby decide that the best way of dealing with Weiss would be to beat her in a duel? It didn't seem like a good idea and it certainly didn't seem like Ruby's style… but then again, it was only polite to put some faith in your leader.

"It is as good of an arrangement as any." Pyrrha said in response. "Are you okay with the two of us fighting, Ren?"

"It will be my pleasure to test my strength against you." If having to face off against Pyrrha made Ren angry of afraid, he didn't let that show. Not that he head a habit of showing much emotion in general.

For a second, Weiss looked as though she was about to protest, but she knew better than to argue with the rest of her team. "Fair enough, we will fight in this arrangement. Since we are going to be last, let's just observe the fights for now."

Indeed, the fights that followed were worthy of their attention. Since the pairs were arranged to contain more-or-less equally skilled combatants, all of the duels between the members of Team HART and Team BRNS were quite a spectacle. Still, even though the participants were all skilled in their own unique ways, they seemed to be still below the level that Pyrrha's teammates presented. Their fights weren't truly complex on a tactical level – each duel consisted of participants exchanging blows until one of them was out of aura. Miss Goodwitch then announced the winner, said a few words regarding the fight and the mistakes made and then called another pair onto the arena.

Only when Team JNBY's turn came did Pyrrha really start to pay attention. They apparently decided that the first to fight each other would be Blake and Nora, since it was them who stepped into the arena once their team was called. Neither of them seemed particularly worried or nervous as they took their places in the ring – Blake exhibited no outward emotions while Nora was basically beaming with enthusiasm, judging from the smile on her face and the way she gripped her hammer.

"Nora seems pretty confident." Pyrrha said, addressing the remark to the one member of her team who knew Nora for more than a day.

"She is always like that." Ren replied. "With her strength, she is right to feel confident... Though I don't think she has that particular fight covered."

Pyrrha nodded, as she understood what her teammate was talking about. Nora's fighting style – using a giant war hammer to hit her adversaries and launching grenades en masse – was good against Grimm, but it didn't seem fitting for a controlled fight against an opponent with a more practical weapon. Pyrrha was yet to get a good look at the fighting style of either of the girls, but based on the information available to her, there was only one way the fight could go…

The moment Miss Goodwitch announced the start of the fight, Blake shot out forwards with her blade in hand. Nora attempted to use the handle of her hammer to block the attack, but Blake wasn't the one to strike so directly. She instead jumped over her teammate and slashed across Nora's back before the redhead managed to turn around.

To her credit, Nora was apparently focused enough not to let the strike knock her off balance. Before Blake got to carry out another strike, the hammer-wielder jumped back to gain some distance and then swung her hammer at the opponent. The hammer's head failed to hit anything other than a shadow clone which Blake then used to propel herself out of Nora's range and into the opposite end of the arena.

After that move, both of the girls found themselves more or less back at their starting places. The only difference between the current situation and the one before the start was Nora's aura level, which was now several percentiles lower than originally.

The rest of the fight followed a similar pattern. Blake would repeatedly step into her opponent's guard while Nora would try – and fail – to score a decent hit with her sizeable weapon. Neither of them switched their weapons to the ranged form at any point during the fight. Blake probably found that pointless since her strategy seemed to be the winning one anyway, while Nora couldn't really use her grenade launcher without risking damage to the arena or the people outside, who would definitely feel the shockwave or get hit with the shrapnel.

It wasn't just the difference in weaponry that mattered though. Though it was rather subtle, Pyrrha couldn't help but notice that there was something rather unusual about Blake's fighting style. It was far too pragmatic, too… precise to be something designed specifically for fighting Grimm. It was clearly meant to be used against other people, though why Blake would feel a need to train in that direction, Pyrrha had no clue. She didn't remember seeing Blake in any tournaments and there was no doubt that if she had participated in any combat tournaments, she would get quite far considering hoe skilled she was.

What reason did Blake have to train specifically with other people in mind? Was she raised somewhere where people were a greater threat than Grimm? In some poor urban area that was safe from the Grimm but not from violent criminals? In some faraway settlement where people were expected to know how to fight their fellows? It made Pyrrha quite curious, though she probably wouldn't ask – it would be a highly personal question and Blake seemed like someone who really valued her privacy.

The duel ended rather predictably. Despite her physical strength and impressive determination, Nora stood little chance against an opponent who was just as skilled and far more agile than her. About three minutes after the start, Blake – visibly tired from the fight, but with her aura almost unscathed – scored a finishing blow against her teammate. The two of them then shook hands, listened to their teacher's short talk about their combat strategies and, once dismissed, headed back towards their sits. If Blake felt particularly proud about her victory or if Nora felt in any way bummed about the loss, they wouldn't let it show – their moods seemed to be identical to ones before the fight.

"Well, that was fun to see." Ruby commented, before turning towards Weiss with a kind of nervousness on her face. "So, it looks like our siblings will be fighting now."

"Yes. What about it?" Weiss responded calmly.

"I just wondered, um, if you have a favorite?" Ruby asked, apparently not confident enough to ask the obvious question directly. 'Are you rooting for your brother to fail?'

"I hope that my brother will represent the Schnee family accordingly." Weiss replied, refusing to give a straight answer. Ruby apparently deemed further effort pointless, as instead of pressing her teammate, she focused on the events down in the ring.

In a way, Jaune and Yang mirrored the previous pair with their attitudes. Whereas Yang seemed confident in an outward, expressive manner, Jaune didn't betray much emotion and seemed to be calculating possibilities in his mind, as to maximize his chance for victory.

The moment Miss Goodwitch gave a signal to begin, Yang was already moving. Fast. Using the shotguns in her gauntlets to propel herself, she flew towards Jaune and threw a powerful punch straight towards his head. Jaune, luckily for him, was fast enough to bring his shield up and block the punch, though it didn't entirely mitigate the impact. The young man was pushed back by the force and actually lost a bit of aura, likely due to the damage his arm suffered from having to push back against such a blow. He quickly repaid Yang by taking advantage of the opening she left and driving a sword into her stomach.

The strike took away a bit of Yang's aura, but the blonde didn't seem to care. With a vicious smile on her face, she punched Jaune in the jaw, causing him to fall backwards and onto the floor. The boy proved himself fast enough to get up and bring his guard up before Yang could take advantage of his position, but he still took significant damage from the strike.

For the next two minutes, the fight seemed fairly even. Yang's punches were incredibly strong and did quite a number on Jaune's aura, but at the same time, she lacked any viable defense against Jaune's counterattacks. Her weapons weren't made for blocking, she wasn't fast enough to dodge every attack coming her way and each time she attacked she had to extend to the point of leaving her arm as an easy target. With neither combatant having a good defensive option, the fight such as this would normally end fairly quickly. But, since both Yang and Jaune had very durable auras, the duel just kept going as both of them took more and more damage.

Yang's aura was the first to go below fifty percent mark. Seemingly convinced that he was on his way to victory, Jaune stuck overhead, slamming the blade of his sword into Yang's shoulder. The strike connected and took away nearly ten percentiles on Yang's aura, marking the most powerful blow of the entire fight.

That was soon about to change.

Without any sort of warning, Yang exploded into flames. The fire didn't appear to be damaging in of itself – Jaune's aura was unaffected by it in any case – but it managed to deconcentrate Yang's opponent as well as blind him for a second, giving her a perfect opening to strike.

As Jaune took a devastating punch to the chest, his aura dropped by almost twenty percentiles. That, however, was far from his biggest problem. The force of the blow turned out to be sufficient to lift the young man off the ground and send him flying at a rather high velocity. Without any way to change his momentum, Jaune continued to fly until he hit the ground out of the ring's bounds.

"Yang Xiao-Long is the victor of the match." Miss Goodwitch announced. "I have a few words to say about this fight, but since we are short on time, I shall be brief. Mr Schnee, I advise you figure out a way to defend against powerful attacks so that you don't end up approaching terminal velocity each time one connects. Miss Xiao-Long, while your semblance worked to your advantage in this fight, I should warn you against relying on it too much. Letting your aura be brought down so low would have been a horrible idea had there been other opponents facing you."

"Don't worry, I have other tricks up my sleeve." Yang replied nonchalantly. "Well, I don't really wear sleeves here, I prefer to show off my muscles a little…"

"I repeat, we are short on time." The teacher insisted. "Mr Schnee, will you adhere to my advice?"

"Would a parachute be a good solution?" Jaune replied, before quickly adding. "But of course, I will consider other, more practical options first."

"Excellent. Now take your seats and let the next team perform."

"A semblance…" Weiss murmured as the two combatants returned to the bleachers. "A strength boost, one that requires her to get damaged first, or just fight for a longer while."

"The first one, actually." Ruby replied, making yet another attempt to strike a conversation. "Yang can return every blow Jaune did really good all things considered. He put up a great fight…"

"No he didn't." Weiss suddenly interrupted. Her brows were furrowed as though she was thinking about something intensely. "He didn't even try to beat her."

"Um really?" Ruby seemed surprised. "He almost brought Yang down to red. Not many people can do that. Do you think that he would beat her if he tried harder?"

"It's not a matter of trying hard." Weiss shook her head. "Yes, Jaune fought as hard as he could. But he didn't make any serious attempt. He didn't try to think outside the box, he didn't use any tricks and, most importantly, didn't secure himself against that semblance in any way. Not that I noticed."

"Maybe he didn't know about Yang's semblance?" Pyrrha suggested. It really seemed as though Weiss was jumping to conclusions. You couldn't prepare for every trick your opponent has to offer. "Even if she used it during the fight with the Death Stalker, Jaune might had simply not noticed it."

"Even if he had, he should still know about it by now." Weiss disagreed. "He had to ask the others about their semblances."

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked. "I didn't ask you to explain yours. Seems kind of private."

"Yes, I'm sure. That's one of the first things I would ask if I were…" Weiss paused, as her eyes narrowed slightly for a moment. "But that's not truly important. Let us focus on the fights."

To be frank, the next two fights weren't really worth focusing on. All four members of Team CRDL were capable, perhaps more than the majority of other students, but their fighting styles were mundane and made for a poor spectacle. The fight between Cardin Winchester and his partner Russell consisted mostly of the latter jumping around the former and launching weak attacks with his daggers and ended abruptly once Russell failed do dodge one of Cardin's attacks and took a dust-amplified mace to the face. The duel between Sky Lark and Dove Bronzewing was somewhat more interesting – the combatants showed considerably more skill and finesse – and ended with Dove depleting Sky's aura after managing to step into his guard. Such was the weakness of pole weapons such as a halberd.

"I was certainly a skillful display from both parties." Miss Goodwitch said, apparently not being able to say anything insightful about the fight herself. "There are only two pairs remaining. Team RRWP, who are you sending first?"

"Oh, I didn't think of it." Ruby replied and then turned towards Pyrrha and Ren. "Can you guys go first?"

"Of course." Pyrrha replied, as she didn't care much for the order. Ren simply nodded.

"We want Pyrrha and Ren to fight first." Ruby said, turning back towards her teacher.

"Excellent. Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren, please take your places in the arena."

Pyrrha obliged and so did her teammate. The two of them quietly entered the ring and took places on its opposite sides.

"I wish you good luck." Ren said, bowing slightly.

"Likewise." Pyrrha replied with a polite smile. Both of them gripped their weapons tightly and, a few seconds later, saw Miss Goodwitch give a signal for the fight to begin.

Ren immediately opened fire. Countless bullets flew towards Pyrrha, only to smash against Akoú **o̱** , her trusted shield. Feeling as though her advantage lied in melee, Pyrrha closed the distance by running towards Ren and slashing at him with her sword. The boy managed to dodge the strike, but he didn't get a chance to strike back, as Pyrrha immediately followed with a quick thrust Ren only barely managed to deflect.

The fight turned into an exchange of blows and parries. While Ren wasn't a bad fighter by any means, Pyrrha found keeping up with him quite easy even without using her semblance – she surpassed her opponent in close quarters combat at the very least. Besides, Ren's two blades made for a rather poor weapon in direct combat. They had noting on a solid sword, and Miló was nothing if not a well-crafted blade.

Pyrrha could probably end a fight fairly quickly by pushing harder, but she figured letting Ren stay on the ring for a minute or two would only be polite. As she parried all her opponent's blows and mechanically launched her own strikes, she found herself thinking more about an upcoming fight than the one she took part in. What exactly was Ruby hoping to achieve by fighting Weiss? Contrary to what some would say, fighting was a poor method of bonding with other people. It could be a fun activity if you already liked the person you were going against, but it couldn't make enemies into friends or anything like that. There was only one reason why Ruby would be so enthusiastic to fight Weiss, and it didn't seem like a very good reason…

A slash across the face reminded Pyrrha that she was, after all, still in the middle of a battle. As she had already lost nearly a half of her aura, she decided that eliminating Ren wouldn't be quite so impolite anymore. Taking advantage of the opening the slash left, she slammed Miló into Ren's shoulder, damaging his aura as well as knocking him off-balance. She then struck again, this time slashing at her opponent's arm, and when Ren attempted to strike back with one of his blades, she used polarity to _slightly_ change the angle of the attack. This allowed her to easily dodge the strike and respond with a powerful attack on her own, striking at Ren's head with the pointy end of her sword.

It proved enough to both topple Ren and bring his aura below the acceptable level. After sheathing her sword, Pyrrha approached her teammate and extended a hand towards him – a gesture which Ren accepted with appreciation.

"Thank you." He said as he stood up from the ground.

"My pleasure." Pyrrha replied. "It was a challenging battle you gave me."

Ren's bitter smile implied that he knew just how untrue the statement was, but he didn't say a single word. The two of them listen to Miss Goodwitch closing remarks – there weren't that many this time, either because she couldn't find much wrong with their combat styles or because she felt that pressed for time – and then headed towards their seats.

On her way to the bleachers, Pyrrha passed Ruby and Weiss heading downwards to wage their own duel. As they walked past one another, Ruby gave Pyrrha a reassuring look,

As for Weiss, she was looking straight forward, taking a visible effort to maintain a perfect posture and demeanor. Even before the actual start, she cared greatly about presentation. This would be a useful attitude in a tournament fight, but during a lesson such as this it seemed… misapplied. They were supposed to learn something about their teammates, not prove themselves better than them.

Pyrrha wondered if she was supposed to say something to either of her teammates, but she still couldn't come up with anything. She instead made her way to her seat and slumped down on it, her eyes focused on the arena below. Ren sat down next to her and then, unexpectedly, put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder.

"I think you worry too much." He said calmly.

"Huh?" Pyrrha replied, taken aback by both Ren's word and his newfound tendency to say anything without being spoken to first.

"It's clear that you are worried about them. I say you calm down a little." Ren carried on. "Whatever issues Weiss has and whatever Ruby is planning, they will not harm each other or do anything that would harm themselves. More importantly, you are not responsible for whatever trouble they do end up getting into."

Pyrrha once more looked down on the arena, to see Weiss and Ruby preparing for their fight. With their weapons "The last part didn't strike me as reassuring."

"Sorry. I don't reassure people often." Ren smiled weakly. "But my point stands. Let us watch the fight and only intervene if something goes really wrong, may we?"

Pyrrha considered Ren's words and then nodded. She had to admit, there wasn't much that could be done about the current situation. Whatever Ruby and Weiss were about to do now was entirely up to them. If there was a way to ease the tension between them, only they could do that.

If only there was a way to help them out with that…

* * *

As Ruby entered the arena, she took a deep breath. She felt quite nervous, partially because she didn't like having a whole crowd staring at her – and yes, forty people were enough to qualify for being a crowd – but also because of how important the fight was.

She observed her teammate step inside the ring herself. Weiss did her best to seem collected and unconcerned, but in her head she was probably thinking of countless scenarios for the upcoming fight, analyzing what she should do to win, what could be gained by winning and why she wasn't allowed to lose. It was just like Weiss to lose so much energy thinking about some quick, unimportant spar, as though winning meant anything.

Except for Weiss, winning probably meant quite a lot. A chance to win respect from her classmates or a teacher, impress someone in the audience, something like that. To her, the duel was important, and that's what made it important for Ruby as well.

Ruby heard Miss Goodwitch say something about safety precautions, but didn't really pay attention to it. She tuned out her teachers words and forced herself to forget about the crowd – a nice trick to make herself more focused in times like this. In her mind, she kept repeating the steps of her plan, just to make sure she would be able to carry it out.

It was a simple plan, really, based on an equally simple idea. If Pyrrha's words were anything to go by, Weiss' poor attitude was mostly the result of her envy. She envied Ruby for being made a team leader, maybe of getting to kill that Nevermore back in the Emerald Forest. Either way, she felt overshadowed. She wanted more limelight and respect for herself. There was an immediate way to deal with that issue, or at least make it less severe. At the moment, the eyes of all the students were focused on Ruby and Weiss, expecting to see their fight and ready to judge them based on how well they performed. It was a perfect opportunity to even things out in terms of prestige.

All Ruby had to do… was lose.

* * *

 **There is something weird about having RWBY characters use real-life concepts and terms. Since we know little of Remnant, we don't know what philosophical concepts are common there. I assume there are the concepts such as science or rationality, since there is advanced technology there, and that there is an equivalent of Latin, seeing the existence of names such as 'Taurus' or 'Calavera'. I will take that as a sufficient excuse to use some smart-sounding words.**

 **Anyways, here's the chapter. It's the longest one yet, so I hope you liked at least a part of it.**


	10. Chapter 10

„…and do not use dust in offensive manner. Your weapons are noted to be particularly dangerous when loaded with dust and I don't not wish for there to be any unnecessary injuries." Miss Goodwitch said, concluding her list of additional rules that would apply to the fight. "Is everything clear?"

"Sure." Ruby murmured, not having paid much attention to what was being said.

"I promise to abide to safety standards to the best of my ability." Weiss said far more eloquently.

"I'm glad to hear it." Miss Goodwitch replied. "Now, are you both ready to begin?"

"Yes I am." Ruby said, this time much louder. She activated the Crescent Rose and assumed a defensive position.

"So am I." Weiss confirmed. She grabbed her weapon with one hand and pointed the blade towards Ruby like most fencers would. Her rapier was probably already loaded with some sort of dust she would end up using in a fight. It was good, since in order to make losing at least somewhat convincing Ruby needed Weiss to show some decent skill.

"Very well." Professor Goodwitch raised her crop. "On my signal, you are allowed to start fighting. Remember the rules and do not get carried away."

Gee, Miss Goodwitch didn't seem to believe that Ruby and Weiss would behave properly. Frankly, Ruby felt somewhat offended at this lack of trust. Hasn't she proven herself to be wise and reliable already? Then again, maybe the distrust was directed more towards the fencer with a bad attitude and several tons worth of explosives in her weapons' chamber.

Said girl was currently piercing Ruby with her gaze, like a predator admiring its prey – though come to think of it, most predators would attack if the prey was actively staring back, since it meant the element of surprise was gone anyway. Point was, that look was scary. There was some real determination there, maybe anger as well, both of which fit Weiss pretty well. She was dead set on winning the fight, which would probably make things easier for Ruby. Or harder, depending how you looked at it.

 _Don't get distracted._ Ruby told herself. _You have to be focused if you want to make this convincing._

In the last second before the duel started, Ruby mentally ran through all the steps necessary to achieve her goal of losing horribly. It shouldn't be too hard, really – she would just have to throw clumsy attacks and never dodge too agilely. Sooner or later her aura would get depleted and then she would just have to take the loss in stride. Which could be hard, but it was still necessary. As much as Ruby would want it, there was seemingly no way to make Weiss feel at peace without giving something up.

When the crop came down, signaling the start of the duel, Ruby dashed forwards. Not with her full speed and without an actual intent to score a blow, but fast enough to at least look like she was trying. She swung her scythe in a sideway strike, low enough to make decently sure Weiss would be able to jump upwards to avoid it.

She had. The chine missed Weiss by a wide margin, as the girl quickly shot up using her sigil thingies, in a similar way she did during their fight with the Nevermore. While midair, she created yet another glyph and pushed herself off it, coming down towards Ruby with the sharp end of her sword pointed towards the young reaper.

This time, Ruby didn't really have to fake anything. The strike was extremely fast and dodging it would have been a challenge even while fighting seriously. Since Ruby only made the barest effort to avoid the blow, the blade hit her square in the chest and would have inflicted a serious wound if not for the aura absorbing the blow.

Only then did Ruby actually jump out of Weiss' reach. A quick glance towards the board upon landing revealed that Ruby lost almost a tenth of her aura on that hit – her reserves were never particularly large. Depleting them all the way couldn't be very hard. All she had to do was to keep dodging-but-not-quite, maybe score a hit against Weiss for the sake of pretense. Now that she thought of it, she ought to at least launch a single attack.

With that goal in mind, Ruby grabbed her scythe tighter and swung it at Weiss as a counterattack. The swing was not particularly well-aimed, so it was no surprise when Weiss managed to jump out of the way, without even having to use her semblance. She simply jumped to the side, after which she made a longer jump backwards, wisely putting herself out of Crescent Rose's reach.

Ruby then made another bad-but-probably-not-obviously-bad move. She pressed a button that transformed Crescent Rose into its ranged form. Her baby was an absolutely devastating weapon a sniper rifle, obviously, but only when there was at least a decent range to shoot from. Here, Ruby wouldn't be able to get a clean shot at Weiss even if she was so polite as to stand in place as a stationary target.

Of course, Weiss wasn't about to stand in place. To the contrary, she lunged forwards propelled by one of her shiny circles, flying towards Ruby at an uncomfortable speed. Ruby could probably avoid that strike by using her semblance, but she instead decided to do less rational thing and try to aim a shot instead.

Obviously, it didn't work out. Despite all the experience Ruby had with her sniper rifle, there was simply no way to aim and shoot within less than a second. The tip of Weiss's sword scratched her shoulder, taking another bit of aura away from her. As for Weiss herself, she landed near the edge of the ring, immediately turning around to face her opponent once again.

Ruby took a deep breath. Her aura was still in the green, but it wouldn't remain such for long at this pace. Just keep repeating the same strategy and don't feel too embarrassed when it brings results.

This was going fairly well.

* * *

This was not going well.

Pyrrha watched the duel from her seat on the tribunes and with every moment found herself more and more worried about the outcome of this battle. Ruby was trying to lose – that much was obvious just by looking at her attacks and how clumsy they were. Perhaps it wasn't obvious to everyone, but Pyrrha could recognize when someone was holding back and so could multiple other students, undoubtedly. Miss Goodwitch definitely did, though there was no saying whether or not she would address Ruby's behavior or how she felt about it.

For better or worse, Weiss didn't seem aware of what was really happening. She was rather skilled and had a firm grasps on tactics, but she likely wasn't experienced enough in person-to-person combat to recognize when her opponent was holding back. She was just thinking about winning, too focused on her own moves to notice the flaws in Ruby's attacks, or rather how obvious those flaws were.

Even if Weiss did notice what was going on, she would probably just go with it for the sake of reputation. Which would be a mistake, a terrible one. If most students weren't able to notice Ruby's strange behavior now, they would put two and two together the moment Weiss got announced a winner. At worst they would be angry that someone decided to fight unfairly like that, suspecting Weiss to have arranged such an outcome herself, and at best they would think the heiress weaker than she actually was.

It was the reason staged fights weren't actually as common as cynics would think. Throughout her career Pyrrha was only offered a possibility twice, maybe thrice. It had little to do with honor or respect for the rules, throwing fights and arranging for them to be thrown simply wasn't beneficial most of the time. Even if you managed to do it subtly, the victory achieved through trickery was only going to add one more win to your statistics and likely not a spectacular one, since you wouldn't actually be doing anything particularly impressive.

Upon seeing Ruby smash the floor with her scythe, Pyrrha massaged her palm. Watching this display was hard and dealing with the consequences would be even harder. Sadly, there wasn't anything she could do about that, not now that her two teammates were already on the battlefield and there was no way to meaningfully help either of them.

Or was there…

Pyrrha quickly made some mental calculations, trying to determine if the idea she just came up with had any merit. Miss Goodwitch would certainly disapprove of any type of cheating, but she also certainly disapproved of what was happening before her eyes at the moment and didn't react in any visible way. Besides, there was no telling if she would notice one more strange thing among this parody of a battle or if she would be able to place her suspicions correctly. It still seemed somewhat risky to go against the rules like that… but the tradeoff was probably worth it.

And so, having made her choice, Pyrrha concentrated on Ruby's weapon…

* * *

 _This going pretty well._ Weiss thought, as she dodged backwards to avoid the scythe coming down to slice her. The dodge proved itself fully successful, as the blade came nowhere near the heiress and only managed to put a small crack in the parquet they were fighting on.

Honestly, dodging Ruby's blows wasn't too hard. The girl wasn't particularly fast or precise with her weapon, which really was to be expected. Scythes weren't the most popular weapons out there and making them so huge probably didn't help. Once you committed to the strike, the momentum of the weapon would carry it forward, making feints of any sorts practically impossible and giving your opponent enough time to react in some way. Weiss, on the other hand, had no such issue. Myrtenaster was light and elegant, enabling all kinds of maneuvers and making precision attacks perfectly possible.

 _Screw learning how to lose. I'm about to win this._ Weiss thought, remembering Headmaster's words and brushing them off as worthless in this situation. Perhaps she was a bit of a sore loser, but it only made her more determined to win. And she would win. She had to score at least one major victory in that whole game, both to appear better than Ruby and to win her first fight where Jaune hasn't. Failure was not an option.

Keeping that in mind, Weiss produced a glyph to negate her backwards momentum and then immediately launched herself forwards with her blade aimed squarely at Ruby. She didn't intend to strike her team leader just yet, of course. That would be too predictable, making defense possible if not exactly easy. Instead, Weiss intentionally pushed herself sideways mid-flight, dodging a defensive strike of the scythe – although it was so slow she could probably just duck under it and still hit Ruby – and passing by her opponent. She only stopped once she was a few meters behind Ruby, upon which she used her semblance once again, this time aiming for the girl's back.

Now that would be a good strike. Ruby would probably be fast enough to turn around, but only to catch Myrtenaster's blade to the chest. In the worst case possible she would manage to jump sideways and avoid the attack, but she wouldn't be able to throw Weiss off balance by actually blocking, let alone to perform a counterstrike. With her unwieldy weapon and seemingly limited reflexes, there was no way for her…

By the time the blade flew towards here, Weiss had far too much momentum to turn around. She impacted the chine with full speed, having only enough time to activate her aura and avoid being cut in half. Feeling her aura deplete, Weiss instinctively used a glyph to back away, or rather fly backwards only to tumble to the floor upon landing.

How did that happen? Ruby had no right to strike that quickly, with that precision from that position. Even with supreme reflexes, she would have needed to have eyes on the back of her head to determine where to strike exactly.

"Sorry!" Ruby suddenly yelled. "I didn't mean to do it!"

"What?!" Weiss barked angrily as she got herself back upon her feet. "We are fighting. How could you have not meant to score a blow?"

"Oh, right. I did mean to do it then." Ruby amended. "Not that I enjoy seeing you get hit or anything."

Weiss gritted her teeth. She wasn't sure what Ruby was going on about, but it didn't matter. They were fighting, not having a conversation. And since Weiss had just lost a good chunk of her aura, the fight suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous.

She decided that maybe it was time for a small change of strategy. Instead of charging in once more, she raised her sword in a defensive manner and began circling around Ruby, daring her to attack as she did at the start of the match.

The brunette seemed unsure how to respond. She was undoubtedly trying to judge what mode of attack would do best, what tactic she should use in order to ensure her victory. Eventually, she turned her weapon into a sniper rifle once more, hoping to attack from a distance.

Bad move. Bad in a rather obvious, predictable way. Ruby already compromised her defense by transforming her weapon and earned a nasty hit for her trouble. Perhaps she thought that now she would be able to repel Weiss' attack, but that seemed highly improbable.

Before the rifle had a chance to fully formed, Weiss rushed forwards, with her sword aiming for Ruby's neck. The brunette had already lost about half of her aura and all that was really needed was one, maybe two powerful hits to bring her down. All Weiss had to do was to aim carefully…

In hindsight, Weiss shouldn't have expected for Ruby to make the same mistake twice. This time, the sniper didn't even attempt to use her weapon in the intended way and instead smacked Weiss with the barrel of the rifle – which was just as heavy as the scythe's chine, if not as sharp. The hit didn't require too much aura to be absorbed, but it was strong enough to drive all the air out of Weiss' lungs and knock her to the ground.

Suffice to say, the strike didn't connect. Once again, Ruby successfully defended herself against Weiss' attack and scored a hit in return.

"Sorry again!" Ruby exclaimed. "Even though I totally intended to do that!"

Weiss scrambled back to her feet. It appeared as though Ruby was a far more clever a fighter than Weiss had been willing to give her credit for. She spent first minute or so of the fight on the defensive, only launching half-baked attacks, not because she was forced to but because it allowed her to gain a better assessment of Weiss' fighting style. That was the only reasonable explanation for why she was suddenly fighting so much more efficiently. She was using psychological tactics too – why else would she be apologizing for her attacks other than to rile her opponent up?

And frankly, it was working. If Weiss wasn't angry at the start of the spar, she definitely was now. Their auras were now at a similar level, and Weiss was starting to feel quite tired from having used her semblance so many times. If the fight proceeded in this manner, she would soon face a bitter defeat at the hands of her team leader. The only way to change the tides would be to do something unexpected, something that Ruby had no response prepared against.

With a press of a small lever, Weiss activated the dust infusion in the Myrtenaster. She wasn't about to break the rules by using dust offensively, but there were other ways to utilize that wonderful resource. Weiss felt lighter and yet somehow stronger as the gravity dust fused not only with her blade, but with her semblance and aura itself.

It was a perfect mixture, one she used numerous times during combat by now. The Schnee family semblance was, incidentally or not, able to absorb almost any type of dust and be greatly empowered by it. In the case of gravity dust, it allowed Weiss to not only bounce off her glyphs or use them to change momentum, but to amplify her speed with almost no limits. Once again, that ability was about to become very useful.

Behind Weiss' back, a large, black sigil formed. It didn't have any immediate effect, but only because the huntress didn't will it to. Another glyph appeared on the opposite side of the arena, behind Ruby's back. The reaper didn't notice this, her eyes focused on Weiss instead as she stood there with her weapon back in its scythe form. She was either going to use said scythe to deflect Weiss' attack as she did before, or perhaps just jump out of the way at the last moment. Neither would work.

With a pure act of will, Weiss unleashed the power within her glyphs. The one behind her pushed against her back, propelling her forwards, while the one in front of her attracted her from a distance. More importantly, it attracted Ruby as well, making Weiss' opponent stumble, though not quite fall. Just as intended.

Weiss flew forwards with a speed of bullet. Her blade was drawn and aimed at Ruby, squarely at her center of mass. Absorbing a strike like that was bound to deplete most of Ruby's remaining aura, and if not, perhaps the sheer force would knock her out of the ring. That sort of attack wasn't very practical, it could be avoided by simply stepping out of the way in time, but now that Ruby was off-balance and Weiss was locked on her target, there was no way for her to…

And then Weiss missed.

She wasn't sure how. She could swear that she pointed her sword just at the right angle, just at the right spot. It was as though her hand moved involuntarily for no clear reason. Instead of striking Ruby with a weapon, all that Weiss managed to do was to slam into her opponent's shoulder, inflicting just as much damage to herself as she did to Ruby.

Sadly, that wasn't even the worst. The shoulder bump was rather painful, but it didn't entirely cancel out Weiss' momentum. Not even mostly. She just continue flying towards the second glyph, one that pulled her towards it, only increasing the speed. By the time Weiss realized what it meant, it was far too late to do anything.

Weiss passed through the glyph right before it dissolved, no longer maintained by her concentration. She fell down on the floor and onto her knees, only this time it wasn't the floor of the ring.

"The fight is over!" Miss Goodwitch announced loudly. "Miss Rose wins through knockout."

Weiss lost. Despite giving her all, despite having resorted to using dust and despite all her opponent's mistakes, she still got bested at the end. She didn't even have the dignity to lose properly, by having her aura depleted first. She instead knocked herself out of the arena, performing Ruby's task for her. For everyone in her class to see.

"There is a lot I would like to say about this duel, but we are running late and I respect your time." The instructor continued. "To all the students present, the class is over. You are free to disperse, or use this classroom to train on your own accord. To Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, if you sustained any injuries, please report to the hospital wing."

Weiss wasn't injured in any way, though one would be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Her aura was partially intact, not having fallen even below the designated mark, but the repeated use of her semblance had drained Weiss considerably. Back during the fight she was able to push through the tiredness, but now that the defeat had come, there was no more resolve to keep her up and running. Currently she couldn't even stand up due to how exhausted she was, both physically and mentally.

Ruby must have noticed it, as right after standing up herself, she approached her teammate with that damn weapon back at her hip. She extended a hand towards Weiss, though with visible uncertainty.

"You, um, need any help?" The girl asked sheepishly. Her silver eyes looked at Weiss with what seemed to be a genuine concern. If there was a feeling of triumph there, it was concealed remarkably well.

It was only natural for Ruby to feel concerned, really. Weiss was literally on her knees, defeated in a decisive manner. She no doubt looked pitiful, down and defeated like that. In that state, it was probably hard to feel anything but concern and pity for her.

And then it dawned on her.

It was quite obvious now that she thought about. Weiss was locked in a competition she couldn't win. If there ever was a chance that the faculty would reconsider making Ruby a team leader, it was gone now that the young girl won her first fight and then felt merciful enough to offer her opponent a helping hand. Weiss lost, completely and decisively. But there was more than one way to cope with defeat.

The purpose of learning how to lose… it wasn't about being satisfied with a loss, but rather at making the best out of it. Even if you lost, even if you lost completely, you could still take steps to manage your situation somehow. And perhaps the best way to this was the least pleasant one.

 _Think._ Weiss urged herself. _If you were in Ruby's place, what would you like to hear? What would make you more comfortable?_

Weiss took a deep breath. She assembled the necessary words in her head, knowing how hard it would be to spew them out. But it needed to be done.

"I'm sorry." Weiss said, quietly enough to give an impression of reluctance – and it wasn't a fake one – but still loud enough for Ruby to hear her clearly.

"Huh?" Ruby was taken aback. As expected.

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting." As Weiss spoke, she listened to the sounds around her. Many students were leaving the classroom at this very moment, but certainly not all. Some were probably listening in, which was annoying, but ultimately beneficial. "I was rude to you. Obnoxious even. I know that and I'm really, really sorry."

"Weiss…" Ruby felt either too surprised or too awkward to form words quickly. "Look, I hold no grudge. I understand you…"

"No you don't." Weiss interrupted. In any other situation, this would be considered rude, but now it only made her look more pitiable. So struck with guilt she was unwilling to be comforted. It wasn't how people acted normally, it was more than a little on the nose, but it would do the job. "I felt a need to prove myself, to show how much better I am… but I'm not. I'm really not."

This time, Ruby was seemingly too shocked to reply, but she didn't seem to suspect anything. Not that it The funny thing about groveling was that it worked even if the target could see your intentions.

"And now, I failed. Again. I just…" Weiss paused, partially for dramatic effect, but also to reconsider the words she was about say. There was such thing as being too obvious and what she was about to say belonged more in a Mistralian cartoon than in an actual conversation, but it was definitely something Ruby would want to hear. "I wish I was more like you. You're just stronger than me. More brave. More inspiring."

"Um, thanks." Ruby scratched herself nervously. "I'm not sure about the stronger part… not that those other two are on point, I mean I don't think I'm that inspiring, though it's nice to think about it like that…"

By Dust, didn't Ruby know how to accept such compliments graciously? She wasn't really making things easier for Weiss at the moment… but it could be worse. Better to tell Ruby how awesome she is than to admit defeat to Jaune later.

"Anyways, I don't hold anything against you. For real." Ruby continued. "For all I care, we can just forget about all this and start with a clean slate, you know?"

Such naivety. There was no such thing as starting with a clean slate. Nobody could truly forget the insults they were once offered and only a fool would actively try to. But it was the kind of response Weiss had been hoping for.

"I would like that, yes." She muttered quietly, yet still loud enough for Ruby to hear. Only then did she accept the outstretched hand and used it to pull herself up.

While she was still turned towards Ruby, Weiss allowed herself to quickly scan the room just by moving her eyes. Indeed, it appeared as though almost half the students have already left the classroom, but those who stayed would have a good view on the scene below. Jaune was among them, as Weiss managed to spot, but she wouldn't meet him in the eye. It would be all too easy for him to throw Weiss off balance with a single mocking look. There would be no such victory of him.

As for the other familiar faces, Ren had apparently gotten up from his seat, only to get assaulted by Nora who was, from what Weiss could hear, oscillating between assuring Ren that his loss was no big deal and going on about how fun her own fight was. Pyrrha was coming down to the arena, Blake seemed content to keep sitting behind the desk for the time being, while Yang…

"Yang!" Ruby whined as her sister ran up to her with blinding speed and encased her in a bearlike hug. "I told you not to do this!"

"Sorry sis, but you deserve a hug, after a fight like that. The first part was a mess, but then… those were some nice moves you got."

"Yeah. Thanks, but they just kind of… came in naturally?" Ruby was clearly embarrassed by receiving praise like that.

"Still cool." Yang released her sister from the tight embrace and then turned so that she faced both Ruby and Weiss, her smile somewhat fading. "Will you two be okay and all? I haven't heard everything, but you seemed to have gotten a little emotional right now."

"I am alright, thank you." Weiss replied. "I just felt sorry for getting upset too much."

Yang nodded in response. She looked interested, maybe even suspicious of what just transpired, but she apparently didn't intend to question Weiss' words.

It was about then that Pyrrha reached the ground as well. She approached Weiss, with a surprising… lack of confidence in the way she walked. Nervous, perhaps even scared for whatever reason.

"Are you alright Weiss?" She asked. "I don't see any injuries on you but do you feel… well?"

 _Does she think I'm going to be mad for having lost? Great job Weiss, you almost sabotaged your relations with Pyrrha of all people. That advice really was important._

"I am just fine, Pyrrha." Weiss stated calmly. "If you worry that I'm going to be bitter, don't. I can handle losing in a fair fight."

"Right. Sorry for implying otherwise." Pyrrha's face flushed red as she spoke. Was she that ashamed of her little insinuation? "There isn't anything we need to talk about, then?"

"I don't think so. But if there is anything you _want_ to talk about, I am open."

"Hey, how about we go hang out together?" Ruby said now that she was free of Yang. "Then we can talk about whatever we want, without so many people around. And maybe do some other stuff too. I have some fun activities in mind that we could do now that the classes are over."

Weiss felt an urge to ask what exactly those activities were and in what way they were 'fun', but she bit her tongue. It was better to go along what ruby said, at least when it came to unimportant matters such as this.

"I don't have anything planned." Weiss shrugged. "Might as well spend some time as a team."

Ruby blinked, as though she wasn't expecting this sort of reply. She then smiled widely. "Well, let's not wait! I just have to figure out when we start."

Ruby then began chaotically listing her plans for the rest of the day and considering which one of these should be utilized first. Weiss paid little attention to that, only listening carefully enough to react immediately if Ruby asked her something. Her eyes trailed behind the members of team JNBY as they exited the classroom in a group. Nora was practically walking backwards, waving to Ren on her way out of the room. Her teammates. including Jaune, only looked ahead. They were probably about to perform some 'fun activity themselves', though Jaune had no doubt less silly ideas than Ruby kept suggesting.

 _Leadership can only get you so far._ Weiss thought, now certain she had made the right choice. _While you manage your team and play the boss, I'll have someone else do it for me._

An operational team, one with all kinds of weapons at their disposal and a world-renowned champion as its trump card. against Jaune's team of close-ranged combatants, one of which couldn't even bring herself to get along with her leader.

When you looked at things this way... they really were going fairly well.

* * *

Blake wasn't sure how she felt about her first day of school.

As she walked down the corridor alongside her teammates, Blake tried to figure out why she felt this way. Nothing went badly for her, really. She didn't step on anyone's toes as far as she could tell, didn't end up revealing she was a faunus and found a nice hiding spot for her less reputable books. The only real challenge she faced over the course of the day was her fight against Nora and it went pretty well. Great, even – the duel was just hard enough to feel challenging, but she still ended up winning by a wide margin.

And yet, she didn't feel satisfied with how the day went. She didn't feel unsatisfied either, it was just... It was as though she got attacker by an Atlesian battle drone, but before she managed to shoot it out of the sky, it randomly started to break down and exploded. It didn't make her doubt her skills and it wasn't a bad thing in any real way, but it was weird to the point where it was hard to really feel happy with how things went.

Maybe she just felt uneasy being around so many humans after all her time in the Fang. Maybe she simply had a hard time adjusting to being on a team with a Schnee. Or maybe it was that fight she just witnessed, during which both Ruby and Weiss were acting rather strange to say the least, or maybe the scene after said fight which seemed even more bizarre.

Or maybe it was just being around Nora. That worked as well.

"You were awesome." Nora said cheerfully. "Seriously, you have some nice moves. As in fighting moves, I'm still into guys. But you are still awesome, have I mentioned that before?"

"Yes Nora, you mentioned that five seconds ago. And about seven times prior to that." Blake replied calmly, but somewhat tiredly. She was glad Nora didn't turn out to be a sore loser, but really, she seemed a little too satisfied with the fight.

"Well, I can't really mention that enough. It has been ages since I had an interesting fight like that. Lately I've been only fighting Grimm and Ren, and both got kind of boring after a while. Not saying that Ren is bad, he actually kicks my butt half the times, but… you know." Nora only paused when she struggled to put her thoughts into words.

"Everything can get repetitive after a while." Jaune suggested. "Especially something like fighting, where the excitement comes from overcoming challenges. It's not as fun when you do the same thing over and over again."

"Yeah, something like that." Nora agreed. "But you know, I kind of wish you used that brain of yours to actually figure out how to win your fight. Now I lost my fight and my partner did too. It just makes us look like the worse half of the team, you know?"

"Hey, don't be too hard on our brave leader. I'd say he did pretty well." Yang said, lightly punching Jaune in the shoulder. "Not everyone can take that many punches and stay standing."

"Thanks Yang." Jaune replied. "But for your information, I wasn't going all out."

"Right." Yang rolled her iliac eyes. "A standard excuse for losing."

"Come on. Do you really believe I would use all my tricks openly? In an unimportant spar such as this? Sometimes it's better to lose deliberately, just like Weiss did just now."

"Well if you have… wait what?" Yang stopped walking and tilted her head slightly. "You're saying your sister lost on purpose? I mean, that fight was weird, but Weiss seemed pretty dead set on winning."

"Trust me, I know how Weiss fights." Jaune replied, also stopping in place. "Even when she's angry, she doesn't miss attacks that easily. She seemed like she was fighting for real at first, sure, but that last part… it didn't seem natural. Not in the slightest."

"You sure? What she would even achieve by…" Yang paused. "Wait, I think I get it."

"I am already afraid of what answer I'll get." Blake said, tired of not understanding what the conversation was about. "But what exactly are you talking about?"

"Well, Team RRWP was having issues because Weiss wouldn't accept Ruby as a leader." Jaune replied. "That conflict would affect them negatively in the future and wouldn't really benefit anyone. Weiss might be uppity, to say the least, but she had to notice the problem sooner or later."

"Wouldn't a solution be, you know, just not being a jerk?" Nora joined the conversation. "Why would she go to the trouble of losing a fight on purpose?"

"It wouldn't have the same impact." Jaune shook his head. "For the team to function at its best, Ruby needs to feel secure. Now that she got to beat Weiss, she certainly feels validated. Not to mention, she got to establish her dominance."

"Dominance?" Blake raised her eyebrow. "Ruby doesn't seem like the kind of person who would want that."

"Everyone wants to feel dominant." Surprisingly, it was Yang who replied. "People just feel a need to look better and be placed higher than all others. Whenever there's a group, there are hierarchies. It's a natural instinct or something. My sis is sweet and all, but she is no exception. She wants her teammates to respect her and to follow her, I can bet on that."

"Does that mean that you want to feel dominant as well?" Blake asked. "If you were offered to replace Jaune as the team leader, would you go with that?"

"Hell no." Yang waved her hand as to dismiss that very idea. "Being a team leader means that you get extra responsibility for almost no gain, so I'd pass. I'd rather let Jaune feel proud of being a leader if that means he will take care of stuff like writing reports. But it's not like I want to be seen as weaker for the sake of it. If I did, I wouldn't have punched Jaune quite so hard in front of everyone."

"Again, I wasn't going all out." Jaune insisted. "But you are on point when it comes to psychology. People will generally try to achieve dominance over others unless there are some negative consequences to doings so. We don't wish to be under someone else's control or be seen as inferior. Not everyone wants to rule over others, but no one wants to be worse off either. Everyone wants to have it just a little bit better."

"How about being an equal?" Blake protested. "Why does everyone have to dominate or submit to others? Isn't equality the best option?"

"Maybe equality is the best option, but it's really rare." Jaune replied. "People will claim that they are equals or that they want to be, but they almost never practice what they preach. When two companies make a contract, each one is looking for ways to benefit disproportionately. When two people get to marry, one will almost always end up making most decisions as the dominant one, but not after frequent arguing and divorce threats. No one is ever satisfied with equality."

Those words had an impact on Blake, greater than Jaune could ever have predicted. She had spent most of her life fighting for equality between the races of Remnant, or so she thought, but as time went on the White Fang seemed less and less focused on achieving that equality and instead aimed for revenge, for dominance over humans. Was that them getting frustrated with the lack of results, or have they just shown their true colors…

No. Maybe they were some people who would never accept equality and maybe they even made up the majority of White Fang right now, but not the majority of faunus as a whole. Certainly not all. Blake couldn't imagine her parents, or Ilia, or herself being ever unhappy with the world in which everyone was treated equally. People dedicated their whole lives to the pursuit of equality. It was impossible for so many people to live in a lie like that.

 _Everyone wants to have it just a little bit better._

"Regardless." Jaune continued, luckily not noticing anything awry with Blake's reaction. "I'm actually surprised that Weiss was able to see the situation for what it was. She has a bit of a blind spot for strategies that involve humility. She acted this out pretty well too – I thought she was going for the win until the last minute of the fight. Her performance afterwards was somewhat on the nose, but still, she displayed some surprising clarity of mind."

"Right. So… are you just going to keep those observations to yourself?" Blake asked, hoping to divert the topic to something she would be more comfortable with. "I mean, if you think Weiss is deceiving Ruby and the rest of her team, shouldn't you tell them about it?"

"Tell them what?" Jaune asked in response. "That I think Weiss isn't being honest with how she feels? I would have no way of proving that, and it wouldn't help them to know that anyways. If anything, it would just make them even more divided and bitter."

"Wouldn't that benefit you?" Blake asked. "You just said that team RRWP would work better unified. If they continue to fight one another, there will be less of a chance that Weiss will outshine you, isn't that right?"

Jaune sighed, as though he suddenly felt tired. "Contrary to how it may appear, I do not seek to make Weiss' life harder than it needs to be. I hope I'll get better grades and more attention than her, sure, but I don't want her to spend the next four years with people who dislike her. Moreover, I consider Ruby to be a friend of mine, even if we have only known each other for a short while. I do not wish her team to fall apart."

"Aw, such a nice guy you are." Yang commented. "Still, I don't like how you didn't go all out against me. Some people would consider that disrespectful, you know?"

"I know, and I'm sorry." Jaune raised his hands in the air, as though gesturing surrender. "I just thought it would be best for both of us not to reveal just how much we can do. It might serve us well during the Vytal Tournament if we decide to participate, don't you think?"

"I guess you have a point. It's good that you didn't…" Suddenly, Yang paused. Her expression turned into a frown, though a thoughtful one rather than angry or sad. "Wait. Just in theory, what would you have done if you wanted to really beat me?"

"I would take your semblance into account and mitigate its effects." Jaune replied, though there was something… unconvincing about his tone.

"No. I'm asking what you would have done _exactly_." Yang specified. "Just so I know what strategies I should be afraid of."

"Does that really matter?"

"Well yeah. You want all your teammates to be aware of their weaknesses, don't you mister team leader? Unless, of course…" Yang's lips quirked up slightly. "You didn't have any idea how to beat me after all and all that talk about holding back is bollocks."

A long moment of silence came after that sentence. Finally, Jaune sighed in defeat. "No. I did not know how to win that fight. Maybe I would come up with something if given enough time, but back there I had no way to defeat you."

Immediately upon hearing these words, Blake felt a tinge of satisfaction. Maybe it was petty, but it did feel nice to know that her partner was able to defeat a Schnee in one-on-one combat without any tricks being involved. But when she thought about this for a moment, Blake started to doubt these words. An idea came to her, one that didn't feel very comforting…

"Well now I really feel dominant." Yang's smile grew much larger. "So much so I think I can call this day a win. Or at least I will if we actually finish decorating our room. Are we going to do that now?"

"Yeah, let's do that." Nora said. Her voice was unusually downbeat for her, but it quickly filled up with enthusiasm again. "Yes, I think I have an idea or two how to make it even cooler. Team JNBY ready for action?"

"Actually, why won't you go on and wait for me in the dorm?" Jaune proposed. "I would like to check if my armor wasn't dented by that last punch, maintenance at all. I will join you shortly."

Blake wasn't sure if Jaune legitimately needed to check his equipment for damage or if it was just an excuse to get away from Nora and her glitter for a moment, but if the latter was true, then she definitely sympathized with him. She also was somewhat tired of her overly energetic teammates… and just so happened to have a question that was best asked in private.

"And I'll grab us some snacks from the cafeteria." She offered generously. "You can start without me if you feel like it."

"We won't." Nora promised with a smile. "Just bring us something tasty, won't you?"

Blake nodded in response.

"Alright guys then, you do you. Just not in _that_ sense, not unless you can find yourselves a quiet room." Yang grinned stupidly and then turned around before either of them could respond. "Let's go, Nora. There is a lot to be done before the sunset."

"Sure there is!" Nora responded and, after throwing Jaune and Blake one last glance, headed deeper into the corridor. Yang followed, the two girls marching together and eventually disappearing behind a turn.

The two other members of team JNBY were left alone in the corridor. Blake had an opportunity to ask her question now, but didn't know how to form it so that it wouldn't sound accusatory.

"So..." Jaune started. It was a testament to how awkward the scene was that even he wasn't sure what to say. "Was there anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Your fight against Yang." Blake finally said upfront. "Were you really trying to win?"

"Well yes. I told you as much, for all I tried to pretend otherwise."

"Were you honest though?" Blake decided that she needed to be direct in order to get any sort of meaningful answer. "Is it true that you had no idea how to beat Yang on that arena?"

"Of course." Jaune predictably replied. "Why would I lie?"

 _I imagine it's like breathing to you._ Blake thought, but had enough tact not to say it out loud. It probably wasn't fair and would definitely not help her get an honest answer out of Jaune.

"Well, you believe that Weiss only pretended to lose her fight and that it will benefit her in the future. Doesn't the same apply to you? Wouldn't it make sense for you to make an impression that you lost, when in reality you had everything under control?"

Jaune blinked. "I don't think I follow. Weiss was acting, well, like a brat and had to make up for it somehow. My loss against Yang doesn't make me look any better."

"But it made her feel satisfied. Less threatened by your dominance, you could say." Blake replied, suddenly feeling less reluctant to be blunt. "And she felt even better when she caught you on trying to excuse that loss. Were you honest, right there? Or did you pretend to be pretending that you lost on purpose, hoping that someone would call you out on this?"

"What? Blake, I think you are being a little too suspicious here. I don't scheme on that level. I don't think anyone does."

Blake wasn't surprised that Jaune denied her accusation, that much was to be expected regardless of whether he actually did deceive Yang. What worried her was the manner in which Jaune defended himself. He didn't even argue that he _wouldn't_ do something like that, only that he shouldn't be able to. As if he found the idea interesting.

"Well I can't really know on which level you scheme, can I?" Blake replied, her voice raised now. "Maybe you really are that smart. Maybe even that exchange is a part of some complex plan of yours?"

"Blake…"

"Actually, scratch that." Blake carried on, letting her emotions take the better of her. "What about that whole speech about caring about your sister and her team? Was that honesty, or just something you want us to believe?"

"Can you maybe show me some trust here!?" Now Jaune appeared agitated as well. "Fighting should be reserved for the arena. How are we supposed to get along if you don't trust anything I say?"

"Maybe give me a reason to trust anything you say!? I know you are not above letting people believe what you want them to. You admit as much yourself. Why would I think you are being honest with me, of all people?"

"What is that supposed to…" Jaune started, but then paused as to collect his thoughts. "Look, I'm not sure why you are being so distrustful of me. I don't doubt you have a reason, perhaps even a good one. But you have to give me some credit if we are going to make an effective team."

"Can we make a team?" Blake asked, both expressing her anger and asking a genuine question. "Not saying I don't want it, but it may be kind of hard for me to follow someone who might be lying to me at any given moment."

"I… I get that." Jaune replied, sighting quietly. "All I'm asking is for you to trust me unless you catch me on a straight-up lie. Then you have my blanket permission to punch me in the face, or whatever makes you feel satisfied. I'll assume the same attitude towards you, though without a threat of violence."

Blake felt anger slowly abandon her. For all her suspicions, she didn't have any proof that Jaune ever lied to her… though that thought did little to ease her unrest since it possibly just meant that Jaune was a very good liar. Still, her leader was definitely right on one point – they were better off not fighting one another outside of the ring.

"I don't wish to punch you or anything." Blake replied, with less than pure honesty. "But… I guess I can accept that. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are just a bit of a sore loser."

"Never claimed otherwise." Jaune replied. He probably tried to make that sound like a joke, but the attempt failed horribly due to the tension between them. "But I am above manipulating my teammates. I bear no ill intentions towards any of you."

"Never claimed you do." Blake muttered, averting her gaze. It was just about the best she could say about her feeling towards Jaune without being dishonest herself.

"Alright, I guess this is workable." Jaune said without much enthusiasm. "If you really want to grab something to it, you can go ahead. I'll take care of my armor."

"Do you want me to bring you anything?" Blake asked, in a last-ditch attempt to ease out the tension.

"I'm fine. I want to be able to fit into that armor after all."Jaune made another weak attempt at a joke, after which he walked away and into the corridor.

Blake sighed. Now that the argument was over and she was left alone, her emotions became much less clear. She felt partially upset, partially guilty, but mostly confused. And, perhaps more importantly, exhausted.

She was just so tired of all this scheming…

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch was mad.

She was mad in a completely different way than she was at the students who caused trouble or broke the rules. That was more of a case of mild irritation, often exaggerated for the sake of appearing firm. She bore no ill will towards those children and if she punished them, then it was for their own good.

Now she was mad at Ozpin, and it meant something completely different than being mad at students. She wanted to smack him across the face for the trouble he caused her, but since engaging in physical violence was beneath her dignity, she would have to be satisfied with chewing the old man out.

When the elevator finally reached its destination and the door opened, she marched into the room to see Headmaster Ozpin sitting behind his desk. He had some papers scattered across the deck, though there was no telling whether or not he had actually been attending to them. Naturally, there was also a mug of hot chocolate placed on the desk – given how often Ozpin drank this particular beverage, it was strange that he wasn't suffering from diabetes by now.

"What exactly was your goal her?" Glynda asked bluntly, approaching the desk.

"I am not exactly sure what you mean, Glynda." Ozpin said, standing up and facing the newly arrived guest to his office. "Can you please elaborate?"

"Obviously, I mean your last minute change to our combat curriculum. You told me to instruct them to fight other members of their team and do not interfere in the fights unless there was some extraordinary danger involved. I was supposed to divide them into groups and have them test their weapons in the ring. They were not supposed to fight one another for a few lessons, and then it would be against students from other teams. What is the point of having them fight their own teammates?"

"I can see why you would be opposed to such an idea." Ozpin said in response. "And yet you carried out the instructions as give. I must thank you for that."

"You will not distract me with words of approval." Glynda retorted. "Now I would like an answer to my question. Why did you decide to change the plans like that and sent my students against one another?"

"My apologies." Ozpin said with a slight smile. "As to answer your inquiry, I think my exercise was a good way to strengthen team bonds. Few things bring people together as much as a friendly spar and there are few things our new students need more than unity and comradery."

Glynda glared at her boss harshly. They both knew how untrue those words were – fighting someone was a poor way of improving relations them, which was why humans and Grimm weren't all friends by now and why exercises such as this were not something routine. Now she was just waiting for Ozpin to give his real reasons.

"Besides, the current situation is somewhat extraordinary." Smile left Ozpin's face as quickly as it had appeared. "I want to know just how strong our students are, preferably before Vytal Festival. And I mean mostly the female ones."

Glynda felt anger leave her as those words sank in. Yes, they were hard-pressed to find a dependable young woman to fulfill the role of the Fall Maiden and they have agreed to at least consider making that offer to one of prospective huntresses at Beacon. In light of that, her anger over having to make last-minute changes didn't seem particularly justified.

"I see." She said after a moment. "Looking for a suitable guardian already?" She avoided saying 'maiden' out loud, just in case someone was listening in.

Ozpin nodded. "Sad it may be, Amber's condition is not improving. Sooner or later, we will need someone to fill her shoes, and the ranks of our students are an obvious place to look first."

"And any test involving Grimm would be inadequate, because it's not the Grimm that our guardian will have to be afraid of, correct?" Glynda took a guess.

"Precisely." Ozpin nodded once more. "But there is also another level to this little test. I refuse to consider any candidate whose ethics are in question, and while it doesn't provide sufficient evidence either way, the exercise should tell us a little about the character of those involved. Who they chose to fight, how harshly they went on them… I am yet to properly analyze those fights, but I'm sure they will tell me something interesting."

Glynda considered this for a moment. Seeing those kids fight _did_ tell them a thing or two about each one of them. Some of the students used all their abilities to defeat their opponents, others held back and refused to show their full strength and some even threw their fights intentionally for one reason or another. And there was of course the comedy of a fight between the Schnee heiress and Ruby Rose, which seemingly involved all three of those attitudes on top of Miss Nikos interfering in a… no, outright staging the fight. Yes, there were certainly some interesting conclusions to be reached.

"I concede your point." Glynda finally said. "For all the trouble it caused, your plan does bring us closer to determining if any of our students is worthy to fulfill our guardian role. Speaking of, do you believe any of the first years has potential in that regard?"

"Everyone has potential, but living up to it is a difficult task." Ozpin said philosophically. "But yes, there are some promising candidates among first year students. Miss Nikos caught my eye as soon as we met, but some of the other ones are almost as skilled and similarly well-intentioned as her, a group that includes her fellow teammates."

"You do realize that Mr. Ren is not a woman, at least not in any biological sense?" Glynda asked with her eyebrows raised. "Because I can't imagine you are referring to either Miss Schnee or Miss Rose, not with how they have been acting thus far."

"I believe Miss Rose will become a worthy huntress in time, as all she truly needs is to take her responsibilities more seriously and make up for the gaps in her education. Nonetheless, she likely possesses the gift of Silver Eyes which I fear could interact badly with a purely magical power, therefore she definitely wouldn't be my first choice. Miss Schnee, on the other hand…" Ozpin picked up his mug and sipped from it, as though buying himself time to think of the right words. "I wouldn't make her that offer now, not with her current attitude. But if that aspect of hers changes, which does not seem improbable with the positive influence her companions will inevitably exert, she will be indeed worthy of consideration."

Would she? From what Glynda saw thus far, Weiss was in many ways similar to her older sister, only without all the discipline learned in the military. Emotional, proud and, frankly, remarkably entitled. Her actions during and after the spar did paint a more positive picture, but the idea of giving her a maiden power just didn't seem very reasonable.

"I believe you just said that everyone has potential." Glynda pointed out, deciding not to discuss her student's specific faults just yet. "It doesn't seem congruous to assume Miss Schnee might be

"I understand that it's unwise to put our hopes in an uncertainty such as this. Yet I do believe Miss Schnee has more potential than most people we would consider. I recently gave her a piece of advice which seemed contrary to her character, and yet she had apparently taken said advice to heart."

"Why do I feel like you had some additional reason for arranging that exercise?" Glynda sighed, realizing that there was some hidden dimension to all of these, as usually when it came to Ozpin's ideas.

"Perhaps. I have and will expend additional effort to shape Miss Schnee into an exemplary huntress, if not for the sake of making her our guardian, then for the sake of Remnant having one more noble warrior to protect the people. I will consult with you regarding those efforts, of course. What happened today was more a result of impulse on my part than anything else."

"I just hope you don't have too many of these impulses. As much as I care about Miss Schnee's education, there are thirty nine other students who will also require my attention."

"I understand." Ozpin nodded. "And I apologize once again for the inconvenience."

"Apology accepted. But now I have some other matters to attend to."

"The first day of schoolyear is never an easy one, is it?" Ozpin smiled understandingly. "I shall not keep you here any longer than necessary. And I wish you luck in your battle with notes and paper forms."

Despite herself, Glynda smiled in mild amusement. She then recalled that she was supposed to still be somewhat mad at Ozpin, so she put on a neutral expression, nodded and then left the room the same way she entered it.

 _Actually, I don't think I will mind the paperwork._ She thought as the elevator was lowered down the shaft. _It is better than having to figure out what Ozpin is doing, what the students think they're doing and which one of these students should have another soul put into their body._

Glynda sighed loudly and massaged her palm. She hasn't felt quite as tired for a long time, even on the other busy days.

She was just so tired of all this scheming…

* * *

 **Probably not my best chapter, despite all the time that went into it. I feel like I made some choices that I might regret later down the line, but I wanted to stay true to the theme of machinations and continue exploring the psychology of the characters. I also had to make Weiss lose her duel against Ruby – I might mess with characters' personalities, but having Weiss win a fight would be too OOC even for me.**

 **Anyways, the mini arc of Weiss having to adjust to her team has ended in a similar manner to the show, except not quite. She hasn't really grown as much as she adjusted her tactics. If you want to win in the long run, you have to accept small losses along the way. Weiss was groomed to become the head of Remnant's most influential corporation, so her social skills are somewhat lacking in this area. Her family aside, she probably never had to interact with anybody who wasn't at least somewhat respectful of her status. Jaune has less problems in that particular area, which I suppose is ironic seeing how he is the one who gets to lead here.**

 **Not that his team is in particularly good shape. That will be the focus for the following chapters, whenever I manage to spew them out.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, I didn't take a full month this time around. But then again, the chapter is shorter than the previous two, so… I guess it evens out?**

 **Regardless, please enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Beacon was fun.

That was the best word to describe it, really. Yeah, it was the best combat school in Vale and one of the four huntsmen academies that trained young people to fight creatures of darkness and so on and so on, but most importantly, it was a ton of fun. It was organized inside a huge castle, had a forest full of Grimm nearby, the teachers were really cool and the students were a very colorful bunch. Literally. Most students really liked sticking to a single color in a way they dressed and dyed their hair, maybe with the exception of these boring pricks from Team CRDL.

Point was, everything was lively and almost everything was exciting as well. Nora was initially afraid that they would have to actually prove their knowledge somehow to get in, but nope, the headmaster decided to just throw them all down a cliff. Someone like Blake who liked reading and writing would probably call this unprofessional, but Nora hardly cared. The initiation was awesome and while it did leave her separated from Ren – which was obviously bad and there was no denying that, but it wasn't as though it would make them any more distant – it also left her with some really fun teammates.

Although sadly, those teammates were not without their issues. Not issues that would make them unlikable or anything. The kind of issues that affected them and probably gave them quite a bit of angst.

It wasn't obvious at the surface... well, it kind of was obvious, but it got worse the more Nora thought about this. Blake was the most blatant example, with how she refused to interact with most people and how she felt a need to hide her faunus traits behind a huge, unsubtle bow – how she was able to fool anyone in this manner, Nora had no idea, since the freaking thing _moved_ on regular basis. Then there was Yang, who in contrast seemed cheerful enough, but she definitely had an issue or two to work around. She was worried about her little sister being in charge of a monster-slayer team, that much was obvious, but there was also something... less obvious going on. There was something about Yang that made her seem like she was putting up a front, a disguise, but the reasons were only known to her. There was probably no point thinking about this too much, since it was all guesswork at this point.

And besides, there was another master of disguise around...

At the moment, Nora and her classmates were sitting in a classroom and listening to Doc Oobleck, the tall man with funny green hair and a love for coffee, trying to teach them history. Most were listening anyway – Nora paid only a part of her attention to the lecture, her thoughts focused on her partner instead. Jaune was sitting right next to her and taking notes, though in a way, he appeared absent. No, 'absent' was the wrong word. Jaune was focused on the lesson, at least relatively to most students, but he just didn't seem all there. He never did.

It was subtle and not in a 'only noticeable to someone who is paying basic attention' way people usually meant when they said something wass subtle. Back when Nora first met Jaune, right before the initiation, he didn't seem all that weird. Not in any bad way, anyways. Yeah, he always had an agenda, but few people didn't. Everyone wanted something out of life, it was just some people were less needy than others. Jaune had a big and specific goal in mind – take over the Schnee Dust Company or something along these lines – and there wasn't anything wrong with that. Not in principle, anyways. The problem lied in the way Jaune _was_.

Nora only learned to pay attention to it after Jaune took down the Death Stalker by not feeling much. At the time, it reminded Nora of Ren's semblance because of how it worked, but the more she thought about it the bigger the difference seemed to be. Ren could make himself or the others feel less fear or anger, but that was about it. When he used his semblance on you, you didn't suddenly become a different person, you just felt differently. Ren couldn't make himself or anyone else not care about something. He could make you less afraid of the Grimm, but not convince you to let yourself be eaten by one.

Jaune... he seemed like he would be able to do just that to himself. He had no way to calm his emotions down, as evidenced by his less-than-pretty language while he was running away from the giant Grimm. He simply shut those emotions down whenever necessary. How far did that go, Nora couldn't tell, but if someone told her that Jaune could force himself to jump from the cliff using that trick of his, she wouldn't be very surprised.

And then there was his little speech about dominance he gave the previous day. Normally, Nora would dismiss it as nonsense taken from some dusty old book, and maybe it was, but the way Jaune argued it was... distressing.

 _When two people get to marry, one will almost always end up making most decisions as the dominant one, but not after frequent arguing and divorce threats. No one is ever satisfied with equality._

That didn't imply anything good. Nora didn't know the first thing about how a child should be raised, she didn't think that far forwards, but she was pretty sure these kind of words were not something you would hear from someone who hailed from a happy family. Then again, you would also not expect children form a well-adjusted family to behave like Jaune and Weiss did towards one another.

Nora could vaguely register that her teacher was giving closing remarks, so the lesson was probably almost over. She put some extra effort to appear as though she was paying full attention, but the moment the students were all dismissed, her thoughts once again focused on a single target. She followed her teammates out of the classroom, forcing herself to miss an opportunity to chat with Ren some more, and trudged alongside them as they entered the corridor.

"So, did you guys actually understand anything the doc was saying?" Yang asked. "Cause I didn't. He seemed to be trying to cover a year's worth of material in one lesson."

"We'll only have history for one year. I feel we will need to cover a lot of material quickly." Blake said. "But yes, he is talking fairly fast."

"Yeah, he's such a motor mouth." Nora agreed. In truth, she didn't see anything wrong with Doctor Oobleck's way of speech, but it was her opportunity to create a one-on-one situation with Jaune she wanted. "I understood absolutely nothing. Was any of you taking notes or something?"

"I managed to catch a thing or two." Jaune replied. "I can show you if you want."

"I was writing stuff down too." Yang said before Nora had a chance to reply. "Actually, why won't we compare our notes? I'm pretty sure if we get it all together..."

"Nah, that will do it." Nora interrupted. "Jaune, let's find someplace quiet so we can study together."

"Wait, why would you..." Yang said, only to suddenly pause and smile. "Ah, I see. Just the two of you together. Maybe me and Blake can go train, so you can have a room to yourselves?"

"That would be nice, actually." Nora agreed. It wasn't like there was any better place for the two of them to talk than their dorm.

"You heard her Blake. Jaune and Nora just need some time to each other." Yang said cheerfully while grabbing Blake by the shoulder. The faunus girl rolled her eyes, but she ultimately followed Yang into the side corridor, leaving her two other teammates alone.

"Let's go partner." Nora grabbed Jaune by the hand and lead him towards their dorm. For some reason, her partner didn't have anything smart to say back like he usually did. Also, his face turned a shade of pink for some reason, but it had already did that a couple times before, so Nora paid it no attention. She just continued dragging Jaune towards their destination.

Eventually, they reached the dorm of Team JNBY. It was marked as such by the huge, glittery letters written on the door. Nora opened said doors, threw her partner inside and then entered the room herself. She shut the door behind her and sat on her bed, careful not to touch the freshly-painted frame. She didn't want her hands dirty with pink paint, even if the color was really nice.

"So…" Jaune didn't want to sit himself. He appeared rather unsure what to do or say. "I get it you don't actually want to study?"

"Maybe later." Nora replied. "There are more important things to do right now."

"…and what exactly do you mean by that?" Jaune was still pink on the face and still very unconfident. Weird.

"That I want to know why you're moping around."

Jaune appeared taken aback, but he quickly rid his face of any sign of surprise. As usual. "Oh, I suppose it makes sense. I mean… how exactly am I moping around?"

"You won't fool me, Mister Secretive." Nora lowered the tone of her voice a little so that it sounded more serious. "I know when people are not feeling well, even if they try to hide it. You are not even that good at hiding it."

"Right. Sorry." Jaune took a seat on his bed. "You are pretty perceptive, you know that?"

"I'm just paying attention." Nora replied honestly. Was paying attention to how people behave really such an art? It was never something she had a problem with. It wasn't even a talent of hers, it was just that she had two working eyes and was willing to use them. "Now speak up."

"Alright, I suppose there is no harm in that." Jaune sighed and then took a pause. "It's about Blake. She doesn't seem comfortable around me and won't open up about her reasons."

Oh right. It was pretty obvious that Blake and Jaune were not getting along very well. It was mostly the former having some immense dislike for the latter, as though Blake was holding some huge grudge. Did it have anything to do with her faunus heritage? There was something about the Schnee Dust Company not liking faunus all that much, or maybe the other way around. Nora wasn't exactly paying attention to this sort of things.

In any case, Nora didn't feel all that confident giving Jaune advice regarding Blake. If Blake's faunus heritage was the reason for her behavior, then the only way to help Jaune out would be to reveal that fact – something Blake definitely wouldn't appreciate. Jaune would probably figure this out oon his own eventually, but for now, Nora could offer no help in the matter.

"It can't be just about Blake though, can it?" She asked instead. "Even before we got teamed up with Blake and Yang, you were pretty stressed out. Worried."

"I don't think I was…" Jaune paused upon seeing Nora's stern look and then sighed. "Yes, I was worried. Worried about Weiss and what she could do to hinder me."

 _And thinking of the ways you could hinder her._ Nora thought, though she didn't say that out loud. It wouldn't help to be accusatory like that, no need to make Jaune defensive.

"Well, I figured that much. What I'm not getting is why that fight of yours is even a thing." Nora leaned towards Jaune. "Why do you feel a need to constantly one-up each other like that?"

"It's pretty complicated." Jaune said evasively.

"Make it simple. Explain it like I was five."

"I guess I can do that." Jaune paused, as though carefully choosing his words. "Our family company is one of the largest ones in Remnant, and maybe the most important one. Everyone needs dust and there is some big money to be made out of selling it. Weiss is the family heiress, which means that when our father dies or becomes unable to run things himself, Weiss will end up in charge of the Schnee Dust Company, or at least will get to decide what happens to it."

"And you think it's a bad thing?" Nora asked, fully knowing what answer to expect.

"There is a reason Weiss wasn't selected as a team leader. She's not stupid, but she has no idea how to run… anything, I believe. She also idolizes her grandfather and thinks she knows how the company should be ran, even though it's completely unrealistic under current market conditions and she doesn't know how to be pragmatic at all and…" Jaune paused to recollect himself. "So no, I don't believe my sister is cut for the task. Someone else has to take over, and I am the next in line. If I can gain enough renown while in Beacon or if Weiss proves herself unreliable somehow, I might just be deemed a better choice for a heir."

"That sounds tough." Nora replied, thinking how she could ease the growing tension a little. Suddenly, she came up with something. "Hey, I've got an idea. How about we break her legs?"

"What? That wouldn't really stop her from running a company." Jaune replied, only to add hastily. "And would be wrong!"

"Wouldn't that be enough?" Nora asked, ignoring the second part of her partner's response. "We can break her arms as well, then she wouldn't be able to sign anything. Real career breaker right there."

"What?! Nora, I'm not turning my sister into a quadriplegic."

"I suppose we can just kill her." Nora said casually. "Just set a bomb in her room. She'll never see it coming."

"That's just…" Jaune paused in sudden understanding. "You are joking, right?"

"I'm kind of glad you realized this." Nora grinned. "Not everyone does."

"You have a really messed up sense of humor, you know that?" Jaune almost managed to hide a smile of his own. Almost.

"Maybe I do." Nora shrugged. And then, in that very moment, her idea evolved. It only took a second for her to decide what her new plan would be. "But maybe that's just what you need."

"Dismemberment?" Jaune raised his eyebrow.

"Humor. Something to laugh about so that you aren't so serious all the time." Nora leaned forwards even further. "You have some serious beef with your sister, but you won't take it out by actually hurting her. I think you should ease the tension in some, how you would put it… socially acceptable manner?"

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"Say, pull a prank on her." Nora suggested. "Do something harmless to her, and the worst that will happen will be her doing something harmless to you in return."

"A prank. Done for no reason other than for amusement and a desire for revenge. Wouldn't that be just… petty?"

"Yes." Nora nodded. "It would be extremely petty. Are you into it?"

Jaune stayed silent for a long while, considering the choices in front of him. Even so, his final decision seemed rather easy to predict.

"Do you have anything specific in mind?" He finally asked.

Nora grinned.

* * *

Weiss strode across the corridor, feeling rather tired. Her clothes were soaked with sweat and her muscles were sore from a training session she had been subjected to by no other than her team leader, Ruby Rose. Said girl was trudging in next to Weiss, also exhausted but somehow seeming upbeat even if that tired state.

When at the very morning Ruby woke everyone up with that damn whistle of hers and announced they were going on a jogging session, Weiss didn't say a word in protest. As much as she hadn't enjoyed the session and as much as she didn't enjoy Ruby's leadership as a whole, she had to admit that the idea wasn't a bad one by any stretch. Good physical condition was something any fighter could benefit from and Weiss was… far from perfect in that area. It was mostly just the way she was built naturally, a slim body that could only handle so much stress, but perhaps she has neglected that particular area of training. Since endurance was one of the few things aura couldn't substitute for, the only way to improve it was through physical training and Beacon grounds had a perfect place for that. Thus aching muscles.

Pyrrha and Ren handled all that strain a lot better, both of them being more physically fit than Weiss or Ruby. For all Weiss knew, they were still jogging around the campus, though Ren did seem to be wearing out when they departed. In any case, they were not around and Weiss only had to worry about keeping a friendly face for Ruby's sake.

"You know, it feels kind of nice to get tired like that from time to time." The younger girl said, breaking the silence. "Like, I'm tired, but I don't feel all that bad."

Runner's high. Or, in professional terms, the release of endorphins after physical exercise. It was a widely known phenomenon and Weiss felt an urge to explain that, but she bit down on that desire. One advantage she certainly had over Jaune was that she knew when it didn't pay off to be a smartass.

"It does feel refreshing, yes." Weiss said instead. Truthfully, she didn't feel fresh in the slightest, but that wouldn't be the right thing to say. As she saw the door to their room, she decided to switch the subject to something far more important. "Do you want to shower first, or…"

"Nah, you go ahead." Ruby replied. Weiss felt relief wash over her – partially because she was eager to get washed, but also because it was a sign of her chosen strategy working properly. Because she was now respected as a leader, Ruby felt secure and friendly enough

 _Maybe Beacon isn't that bad._ Weiss thought as she opened the door and entered the room. Or rather, she would enter the room, if not for something heavy hitting her in the head as she passed through the doorstep.

As if that wasn't disorienting enough, she then immediately felt something cold wash over her head. It wasn't water, it felt denser and more… sticky. Still, it quickly covered Weiss' eyes, then her entire face, then the shoulders. Though eyes were the worst, of course, especially since a bit of liquid got through before Weiss managed to shut her eyelids.

Even though her eyes burned, Weiss kept perfect calm. She did not try to move around blindly and she certainly wasn't about to rub her eyes, knowing how badly this would end. She just waited motionlessly until most of the substance dripped down on the floor and opening her eyes seemed safe.

Her room looked exactly as it had once the team left it at the morning, except for the iron bucket lying at Weiss' feet. There was a pink substance slowly spilling out it and onto the floor, not that the floor wasn't already covered with the dense fluid.

Weiss felt something else wash over her – cold anger to be exact. She walked up to the nearby mirror to confirm her suspicions and, as expected, she saw herself covered with pink substance. Her clothes, her neck, parts of her face, but most importantly her hair. It was still white at the roots, but most of it was sticky with what had to be some sort of dye or paint.

In spite of her anger, Weiss felt above all… confused. She hadn't made any enemies while in Beacon, not to her knowledge at least, so the only one with motive to ruin her day would be her dear brother. But there was no way Jaune could benefit from throwing some paint at her. It wouldn't truly hinder her in any way, wouldn't make her look worse in any meaningful way and it certainly wouldn't make him look better. In a way, that made the situation much worse – it meant that whatever plan her brother had, she couldn't see through it at the moment.

"Um, Weiss?" Ruby approached her teammate nervously.

"I need to go to the infirmary." Weiss announced after a moment of thinking. "This thing is almost certainly toxic in some way. I didn't though Jaune was so corrupt as to poison me, but it looks like he had gotten that desperate."

"Weiss, I don't think anyone is trying to poison you."

"Well, what is the point of this then?" Weiss threw her hands in the air. "You don't attack your enemy with non-threatening substances like that."

"I don't think it was an attack…" Ruby replied. "I think you just got pranked."

"Pranked?" Weiss put all her disbelief into that little word. "Who would do such a thing to a Schnee heiress and what can they expect to gain?"

"Weiss, people don't pull pranks on each other because they have something to gain." Ruby was now giving Weiss a really strange look. One of surprise, but also… sadness? "You and Jaune never did that to one another? Or did that with your friends?"

"We Schnees are above such childish activities." Weiss said proudly, only to add more quietly. "And I never had that many friends."

"Oh." Ruby slumped slightly, but she almost immediately stood upward once again. "Anyways, let us wash this stuff out of you."

"Somehow, I doubt this can be washed off just like that." Weiss sighed, although she was grateful for the quick change of subject. "But let us try anyway."

After a few minutes of attempting to wash away the dye with soap and running water, Weiss' fears were officially confirmed. The substance didn't stick to the skin, but washing it out of Weiss' hair and clothes was a different matter entirely. She didn't care much about the sweat-soaked workout clothes, but her hair… her beautiful, enamel-white hair…

If that change was permanent, Jaune was going to pay. Dearly.

Because it had to be Jaune. It made little sense for Jaune to engage in something so childish as a pointless prank, but there weren't many plausible alternatives. Maybe his new teammates influenced him somehow? Either directly, or by changing his sense of humor into something less sophisticated? Not that any of this would excuse his behavior, but it made at least some silver of sense when you looked at the matter from that pespective.

As Weiss mused about all the possibilities, Ruby walked around the room also in deep thought. Although she was likely less focused on Jaune's psychology and more on a problem at hand.

"Alright, so we can't get rid of it just like that." The brunette stated. "No reason to panic. Every kind of dye can be dissolved if the dissolvent is strong enough."

"Are you sure about that?" Weiss asked with uncertainty, even fear. Even if it wouldn't matter in the game between her and Jaune, she was really hoping not to have to choose between having multi-colored hair for the rest of her life or shaving her had.

"I've been dying my hair for a while now." Ruby replied. "Trust me, it always comes off at the end. Sometimes sooner than I want it to."

"You are dying your…" Weiss started, but then she realized that the question was somewhat silly. "But of course. Those red tips aren't exactly natural, are they?"

"Neither is the rest. I'm a natural blonde, you know."

A long moment of silence followed that statement.

"What?" Ruby said defensively. "It's a pretty common thing. Not everyone gets born with a hair color that matches their name, you know?"

"Yes, I understand." Weiss said hastily. "It's just… it's kind of hard for me to picture this."

"I know, right?" Ruby groaned. "Blond hair would just look awful with my cape. And it wouldn't match Crescent Rose at all!"

"Regardless." Weiss sought to bring the conversation back on tracks. "Does that mean you have some dye at hand? Or a dissolver, as you said?"

"Sorry, I'm all out of dissolver. I have some dye if you want it, but only black and red. Would you like any of them better than pink?

Weiss pondered that question. Black hair was not an option, it would look terribly with her combat skirt and some people would think badly of her for wearing the opposite of her family color, but red… it would make her hair look similar to that of Pyrrha, which wasn't a bad look, but it also didn't go well with Weiss' attire. Still, at least it would be one color and not some chaotic mix of pink and white. Maybe it was the best option…?

"That said…" Ruby looked towards the bucket that was lying on the floor, with trace amounts of pink liquid still inside. "I could probably rub whatever is left into your hair so that it looks entirely pink. Really, I think it would look good on you."

Weiss felt an urge to say something snarky, but she opted not to do so. Partially because she was still trying to be nice, but also because Ruby had a point. With pink hair, at least she wouldn't look like she had a can of paint dropped on her head. And as much as she preferred white, pink was a light color… it wouldn't look that bad with a white outfit. Not terribly bad, at least. Not as bad as red or black would.

"Alright, I'll pick the lesser of all evils." Weiss sighed. "Go ahead and dye my hair pink."

"Great!" Ruby exclaimed, but then amended. "I mean yes. We have to go with the least awful option."

At moments such as this, Weiss wondered if being friendly with her team was really worth all that effort.

* * *

The cafeteria was slowly filling up with students. Not everyone wanted to eat their breakfasts here, some preferred to make their own meals or even skip breakfast for the sake of sleeping a while longer, but Jaune believed eating here was more efficient. He could trust Beacon Academy to provide its students with nutritious meals and while breakfast wasn't the most important meal of a day as some would claim, it was still vital for the proper diet to be maintained. Luckily none of his teammates was opposed to the idea, and so the entirety of JNBY was now sitting at a table together.

That said, none of them was eating particularly quickly. They were in no hurry to finish, as either way they would be waiting for their classmates of team RRWP to arrive. It was an agreement they came to back on their first day of classes – they would always hang out together during mealtimes and spent at least a few minutes together. The idea was brought forwards by Nora, but Ruby quickly became an equally eager supporter. Jaune had agreed to it right away because, for better worse, the two teams would end up interacting with each other anyway due to Yang and Ruby being sisters as well as Nora and Ren being… not a couple yet from what Jaune knew, but as close to a couple as you could get without sharing a bed.

Besides, they were other advantages to that arrangement. Unless Weiss forgot that brilliant new strategy of hers, she would soon appear as well and Jaune would get to see if Nora's idea actually worked.

It had.

As the members of team RRWP entered the cafeteria, quite a few other students glanced in their direction. There wasn't anything weird with the four prospective huntsmen, of course, it's just that many people remember Weiss having snow-white hair instead of bright pink.

Weiss didn't act out of usual, not at a cursory glance at least. She calmly approached the counter, picked a tray and placed whatever food she deemed suitable on it. All the while her teammates made sure to keep at least few feet of distance, recognizing her mood for what it was.

Eventually, they all assembled their food and sat next to their colleagues in Team JNBY. The tension was so high that there were no enthusiastic greetings this time around – Blake and Yang weren't let in on the prank, so they were too surprised to think of anything else at the moment. As for Nora, she was apparently so proud of her idea working out that she couldn't keep her eyes away from Weiss, except to wave Ren an obligatory 'hello'.

"Wow, Ice Queen." Yang was the first to speak anything out loud. "You look different than yesterday."

"I fancied a change." Weiss replied calmly. "And don't call me that, thank you."

"That is one unexpected change." Jaune commented, unable to resist an urge to rub it in. "I always thought you were happy with your hair color, sis."

"I like experimenting with different options from time to time." Weiss explained.

"That is good to hear. For a moment, I feared you were planning to accuse me of messing with your hair, even though you have absolutely no proof of this."

"I am saddened you would think so lowly of me. Even if my current state was your doing, I would simply paint myself as uncivilized by starting a public argument like that."

"But of course. You have my earnest apologies."

Then the Schnee siblings stared into each other's eyes for a moment, Weiss with cold fury, Jaune with mild amusement. Weiss then averted her gaze and began eating her breakfast.

 _This is pretty satisfying._ Jaune thought as he took to his meal as well. He had to thank Nora for suggesting the idea and then helping set everything up. He would have done that right away, but the girl had been insistent on keeping her involvement secret. A weird request, since it wasn't like Nora to be ashamed of such an activity or fearing the consequences, but not an unreasonable one.

Come to think of it, he should probably ask why she had so much pink dye ready to use. Maybe it had something to do with that pink strand in Ren's hair or maybe Nora just loved color pink that much, but Jaune had an unpleasant suspicion that pulling off such pranks was not unusual for his partner. In that case, he could only hope that her loyalty applied to such trivial things as well. Dealing with Weiss and whatever retaliation she had in mind, that he could handle. Fighting against Nora… that just seemed scary regardless of the context.

Jaune was pulled out of his musing when he heard a cry of pain. It was accompanied by the sounds of laughter, which let him form a theory of what was happening even before he turned around to see.

The members of Team CRDL surrounded a female student – a faunus girl with brown hair and rabbit ears of the same color. She attended history lessons alongside Jaune's class, but the name eluded him. The leader of a group, Cardin Winchester, was holding the girl by one her rabbit ears. She was struggling, but from the looks of it, all she achieved was causing her more pain.

"Ow! That hurts!" Moment later, the faunus stopped struggling and put on a resigned grimace. "Please stop…"

"Told you it was real!" Cardin said between snorts of laughter.

"What a freak!" One of Cardin's teammates commented. Russel, if Jaune recalled correctly. With that mohawk of his he looked like a stereotypical street thug, even moreso than his teammates.

Jaune briefly considered intervening in some manner, but quickly decided against it. What exactly would him stepping up achieve? By all likelihood, confronting the bullies would just lead to a fight – a fight he could likely win if his team came to support him, but that was beside the point. He would just end up getting everyone in trouble and would at best get Cardin to consider abusing faunus out of sight instead of in the open like that. Publically defending a victim of bullying could be good for his reputation, but in this case, he would just be dubbed a faunus lover and be subject to more laughter then praise.

Sure enough, it only took few more seconds for Cardin to let the faunus girl go. He and his teammates kept laughing, but were not about to do anything else from the looks of it. The brunette scurried away, clearly shaken and embarrassed, but seemingly unhurt.

"Atrocious." Pyrrha said, her voice expressing genuine anger for the first time that Jaune heard. "I can't stand people like him."

"Those people are not exactly uncommon." Blake remarked. "

The last sentence was aimed at Jaune. It was clear not only from the words themselves, but also from the way Blake glanced towards her leader, as though expecting a reply. It annoyed Jaune a little – he didn't exactly like to hear the kingdom he was raised in be given offense like that, not without some opposition at least.

"Atlas has its problems, that much can't be denied." Jaune admitted without actually having to admit anything. "Still, I wouldn't say it's a bad place to live in, be it for humans or the faunus."

"Not a bad place for the faunus?" Blake raised an eyebrow at that. "Atlas is rather infamous for its problems of racial inequality and prejudice."

Well great. That sort of discussion again. Jaune could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes, but he knew it wouldn't help in keeping the conversation civil.

"I believe that racial equality is guaranteed under the constitution, much like in Vale. Faunus have the same rights as humans under Atlesian law."

"That doesn't mean that there is no discrimination going on." Blake protested. "There might be equality on paper, but that doesn't mean human and faunus are actually treated as equals."

"Perhaps. There are different way to measure these factors, but I don't believe it matters that much."

"Excuse me?"

"Economic inequality is a natural consequence of free market, and not a negative one at that. Thanks to the large number of investors and large companies, Atlas has the most efficient economy of all the Four Kingdoms. There is a lot of talk about poverty and discrimination, but it you compare the numbers, faunus in Atlas tend to be wealthier than in any of the other kingdoms, let alone outside of them. You can look this up if you want. Fringe cases aside, faunus are better off in Atlas than anywhere else."

"Exactly." Weiss agreed, joining the conversation. Apparently she felt much the same way as Jaune, to the point where she would ignore the indignity of having to agree with him just to defend her country. "You seem to have a biased view of these sort of matters. Not that it's your fault in any way. Misinformation can be found everywhere these days."

"What?!" Blake looked quite angry now, as though greatly offended. It was pretty surprising – while Jaune didn't expect Blake to instantly change her views when presented with evidence, that reaction was a little bit more emotional than one would expect. "This is absurd!"

"Blake, maybe you should calm…" Yang started, but cut off when her partner gave her a harsh glare.

"There are countless faunus who are freezing on the streets, working like slaves or just getting beaten for who they are at this very moment." Blake continued. "How can you dismiss all that as _fringe cases_ and insist that things are going great in Atlas?"

Well that was going farther than expected. Jaune hadn't expected he would annoy Blake that much with his words – the girl didn't look like she would be particularly concerned about social issues like prejudice against faunus on another continent. She just didn't seem the type, didn't look like one of these attention-seeking teenagers who would spend their time complaining that society wasn't perfect. It partially explained why she would have the Schnees, given the reputation they had, but she had no reason to be concerned about an issue that didn't affect her in any way. Unless…

Jaune looked back at the interactions he had with Blake thus far. He then looked at her bow. He then added two and two together.

He had to lose. That much became clear at this very instance. He couldn't let that argument escalate any further.

"Look, I expressed myself badly." He said, this time keeping his voice calm and neutral. "I know that there is still tangible discrimination in Atlas and in Remnant at large. That's exactly my point, in fact."

Blake was now looking at him less with anger and more with interest and surprise. Weiss, was also looking at Jaune surprised, but in her case, it wasn't the positive kind of surprise. She looked taken aback, almost as if she felt betrayed at that very moment. She couldn't understand why her brother would suddenly cave in like that, not without knowing just how serious the situation was.

Arguing about politics was one thing, but if Jaune was inadvertently opening some old wound of Blake's… that would be just too damaging. It could cost him the chance of his team ever working properly. His national pride just wasn't worth that much.

"Atlas struggles with treating the faunus fairly. But so do the other kingdoms. I don't think it's right and I don't mind that being pointed out. I just want it known that other Kingdoms are not free of similar vices and are not necessarily better. There is no point singling Atlas out when humanity in general has a lot of room to improve."

A safe statement. One without any real meaning and one which didn't require any kind of deceit, but which still constituted a form of surrender. Perhaps enough of one for Blake to end the argument feeling as though she had won.

Before Blake had a chance to reply, Weiss opened her mouth. "That's not really…"

"Exactly!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed, interrupting her pink-haired teammate. "We are all on the same page here, right?"

"I suppose…" Blake didn't seem all that certain, but she wasn't angry anymore either, which was a victory in of itself.

"Well, I am finished anyway." Weiss stood up, even though her plate was far from empty. "I shall join you in the classroom, half an hour from now."

"Do you… want us to keep you company?" Pyrrha asked.

"I believe I can handle being alone for few minutes. Farewell all." Weiss said as she turned around and marched towards the exit.

The remaining three members of Team RRWP looked at Weiss with concern. Ruby with her outward and honest worry, Ren with a more calm and understanding expression and Pyrrha with something in-between. Yang also seemed visibly uncomfortable with the situation, though she wasn't about to say anything either. Blake's expression was now unreadable – it was hard to tell if she was still upset, satisfied to see Weiss quit in such a manner or both at the same time. Jaune couldn't see Nora's expression from where he sat, but she probably felt the same as the rest, though no doubt she would forget about this earlier than anyone else. That was just how she was.

Jaune sighed internally. He knew he hadn't handled things perfectly, far from it in fact, but at least he handled them somehow. Angering Weiss was far better than pissing off Blake any further – he couldn't afford to alienate one of his teammates even further and his sister wouldn't react too strongly to such a trivial thing as not backing her up in a discussion. Although, since she already felt upset after that prank…

"And Jaune." Weiss turned around to face her brother once more. "Be careful from now on. I have a feeling you annoyed somebody who might want to get back at you."

Jaune sighed, this time very audibly. He recalled the ceremony after the initiation and the Headmaster's words after the teams got finally established. Only now did he understand just how true these words were. With the game he had to win and the teammates he was stuck with…

The year was sure about to be interesting.

* * *

 **Just to be clear, I don't actually believe Ruby is a natural blonde. Probably not, at least. The thing is an old joke that started with a fan-made comic and which others, including yours truly, helped escalate in various forums. I didn't see it used in fanfiction before though, so I deemed it necessary to include such a concept myself.**

 **If you have other concerns regarding the portrayal of the characters here, please don't hesitate to point that out. I might have made some unpopular decisions here, but certain choices have to be made to keep the story working.**


	12. Chapter 12

Weiss was watching a plant grow.

It was all she was doing. Just watching the damn thing grow at a rate of one inch per five minutes or so. The plant dust accelerated the growth hundreds of times, but it still meant that the thing wouldn't be fully developed until the end of the lesson, if even that. Weiss wasn't even sure what species the plant was - as much as she usually paid attention to what the teachers were saying, she just couldn't bring herself to care about a subject as useless as Plant Science.

Seriously, Plant Science? At Beacon Academy? What moron decided that this was one of the things aspiring huntsmen had to know before graduating? It was as though the person who made the curriculum didn't really care about anything... which would actually be consistent with what Weiss had seen of Beacon thus far.

The class was ran by Professor Peach, a woman in a colorful dress and with a cheery demeanor that befitted more a caretaker in a kindergarten than someone whose job it was to train huntsmen. She was currently focused on helping some student who somehow managed to screw up watching over a plan, which meant Weiss didn't have to even pretend to be interested by the subject.

"Weiss, you should try harder." Ruby said from the seat next to Weiss. "Pyrrha might overtake you in a minute."

"It's not a competition, Ruby." Weiss sighed. "And if it was, I would refuse to participate. This is just silly."

"You seem moody today." Ruby pointed out. "More than usually, I mean. Is everything fine?"

"Don't worry about me." Weiss sighed. "It must be the weather playing tricks on me."

"Nothing to do with that hair color of yours?" Nora asked.

Weiss nearly jumped out of her seat in shock. Ruby actually _did_ jump out of her seat, squeaking in fear while doing so and landed right on Weiss' lap, as though instinctively seeking protection from her teammate.

"Nora!" Weiss hissed. She didn't feel like shouting in the classroom, though there was a serious urge to. "Can you please stop doing that?"

"Asking questions?" Nora asked. "Oh sorry, I did that again. My bad."

"I meant appearing without any warning, or explanation for that matter." Weiss explained. "I find it somewhat unsettling."

"Yeah, it's scary." Ruby agreed. "How do you keep doing that? I thought I was the one with speed as my semblance."

"I'm not doing anything." Nora countered, casually taking a seat next to Weiss. "You are the ones who don't pay attention to your surroundings."

"Yes, I'm sorry for not having eyes in the back of my head so I can keep track of you." Weiss retorted.

"You're forgiven. Now can you tell me what's bothering you? I mean, it's pretty obvious, but I figured sharing your frustration will help you cope with them or something."

"I don't think I need that sort of help." Weiss replied. "Although your concern is appreciated."

"I didn't come here to give you concern." Nora shook her head. "I want to help. If you know a way how, you better tell me."

"Nora, leave me alone please." Weiss sighed. "It's nice that you decided to check on me and all, but unless you want to help me get back at your leader, I don't think you can do much."

"Getting back at Jaune? Sure, count me in."

Weiss blinked. "Why? Did he do something to you as well?"

"Hey, I'm a simple woman. I see potential for fun, I ask to join." Nora shrugged. "And playing a prank on my team leader sure sounds fun."

"No, I was hoping to get back at him." Weiss objected. "Not to play some childish prank."

Nora blinked. "Um, what exactly do you mean by that?"

"If I knew, I would be on it already. All I know is that I have to damage him somehow, as a retribution for damaging my reputation and sabotaging my appearance." Weiss explained. "It will only be proper this way."

"Aren't you being a little too... serious about that whole thing?" Nora looked awkward, almost nervous. "I mean, it's just a prank. Wouldn't it make sense for you to respond with another prank?"

"And what exactly would that achieve?" Weiss asked, not too keen on the suggestion.

"Well..." Nora took a moment's pause, presumably to think of good arguments. "It would show that you will not tolerate such behavior, but that you are being petty about it. If you get back at Jaune with more force, you risk that he will get back at you with even more force. And if you get back with even more force, he might get back with even more force, which at that point would be lots of force."

"...so you suggest I avoid escalating the conflict?" Weiss attempted to translate Noraspeak into something more brief.

"Yeah, exactly. I think." Nora shrugged. "Look, I just want to pull off another prank. If you are on board with that, then we can work together and everyone will be happy."

"I suppose that is..." Weiss paused. "Wait, what do you mean another prank? You did any as of recent?"

"Ah yes. I pranked Ren by doing that thing he asked me not to talk about." Nora replied. "Look, do you want my help or not? I have to water my plant in a minute."

"I suppose you have more experience in the area than me." Weiss conceded. "We may plan something together."

"Just don't leave me out of this." Ruby requested. "I'd like to do something fun for a change, not just listen to all those boring lectures."

"Awesome." Nora grinned. "I'll make sure both of you have some role. Just let me figure something out."

"Splendid." Weiss was gradually warming up to the idea. It seemed like it would go hand in hand with her secondary goal of bonding with Ruby. Though that reminded her... "Ruby?"

"Hm?" Ruby looked at Weiss expectantly.

"Can you please get off my lap already?"

"Right. Sorry."

* * *

Jaune wasn't sure what to do.

It wasn't a new situation per se. He wasn't some sort of a genius who never hesitated and always knew what the best choice would be. He was allowed to hesitate, to think before doing something and to doubt his choice if he deemed it suboptimal later on. He very rarely, however, found himself in a situation where there were seemingly no good options.

His current situation was, therefore, kind of hard to deal with.

He knew there was a chance he would end up on one team with a faunus and it wasn't a problem in of itself. He figured he would just act casually around them and they would get along somehow or maybe they would have a talk in which Jaune explained how progressive and tolerant he was, dispelling all the potential malice between them. Blake, however, was far more problematic than that. For one she wanted to keep her identity as a faunus secret and could get upset at having that discovered, but more importantly, she hated Jaune's guts.

Probably. Maybe. Even though Blake was right there with him, just a desk away, he didn't dare to ask knowing it pointless. He wasn't sure how personal Blake's disdain was or how deep it went and would not find it out just by asking. In any case, it seemed as though Blake held as strong grudge against his family. Personal history or just the effects of SDC's bad reputation, it didn't truly matter. Jaune would not change her mind and could not simply not associate with her. His only option was just keep going and hope things would get better with time.

Gods damn it. Why couldn't Blake be more like the faunus servants he had interacted with? Or like Velvet, for that matter? Getting upset all the time was not a trait all faunus had, nor was it the requirement for being a huntress.

Jaune was broke out of his musings as he heard a sound of door opening. He was currently sitting in a classroom, all his teammates present nearby, and so he could conclude that the teacher was about to enter. And sure enough, a class was then greeted by a sight of a tall man in a suit entering the room.

Harold Mulberry, as Jaune could recall having read the list of subjects and their respective professors, was responsible for teaching students "Weapon Crafting and Upkeep" - a subject Jaune had little interest in due to the simplicity of his only weapon, but he would still try to excel in as to not embarrass himself with bad grades. As for the teacher himself, he could be describes as normal by the standards of this school, at least in terms of appearance. A rather short man in his forties, wering no weapons but walking with confidence that implied he was a huntsmen just like the rest of the staff. His suit was in an unusual shade of red that matched his ginger hair, but if he was high on coffee like Doctor Oobleck or had a dominance fetish like Miss Goodwitch, it wasn't apparent.

"Welcome, my students." The man said as he took his place before the blackboard. "I shall emit the useless lecture about what great responsibility lies upon your shoulders and how the subject you are about to learn will be crucial to your survival, et cetera. You all know the importance of huntsmen and you all place trust in your weapons. And I'm not so insecure as to try and prove that my chosen subject is more important than any other."

"He's an improvement from Port." Yang said, just quietly enough not to be heard by everyone in the class. Nora smiled, either in agreement or because she remembered something funny – equally probable scenarios, really - and Blake did not react in the slightest. Maybe she was too focused on what the teacher was saying or maybe she didn't care about _anything_ that was being said, it was hard to tell.

"During your course we will go through various aspects of weaponcrafting, and the mechanics of different weapons in general. I do not doubt you know your weapons inside out, so I won't dare lecture you about these, not that I have the time to attend to everyone personally like that. It is, however, important that you know all kinds of weaponry, so that you may better coordinate your efforts with your allies... and to make short work of your enemies."

'Enemies'. Jaune did not remember any teacher say the word before, or even imply that they would have to fight actual people outside of a combat ring. Even Miss Goodwitch did not mention it explicitly, and teaching them to fight against aura-capable opponents was her job. Jaune wondered if it was some sort of guideline not to breach such topics too early, as to not discourage the more sensitive of students from pursuing the career path until they were invested and perhaps less naïve due to age.

Whatever. It's not like he would get to fight anyone for real until after he and his team graduated.

"But there is something that we need to get out of the way first." Professor Mulberry continued. "There is a method of giving weapons additional capabilities, one that is commonly mistaken for a boost one can apply with no negative consequences. Dust. Almost every ranged weapon can utilize it as ammunition and quite a few of them are designed with other possibilities in mind. Blades that catch fire when Fire Dust is inserted. Prods fueled by Lightning Dust, able to topple even the most hardened opponents on contact. There are numerous uses for this substance and not all of them have anything to do with weapons themselves, as it can be used to amplify semblances or even to strengthen the user by being injected into the body directly, a technique I do not recommend."

Jaune noted that injecting dust into his body would be probably the only way he could utilize it with his current weaponry. He then realized how painful it would be and had to concede with the warning. If he wanted to use dust in a fight, he had to purchase grenades, though he couldn't see how they would help him in the arena bouts. Maybe later.

"I cannot possibly cover even a singular aspect of dust science during this relatively short course, especially with all the other pending material. But I won't you to know the basics and, most importantly, I want you to know the dangers associated with using dust in combat. Now, to check if anyone has even a vague knowledge of Dust Theory, what are the seven basic forms of dust?"

Jaune looked around a classroom to see that no hand was raised and no one was eager to give an answer. In all probability many students did know the answer, but none was brave enough to risk being proven wrong. Jaune was somewhat surprised Weiss wasn't offering to answer, but maybe she was saving her knowledge for some more difficult question - she was so handy with Dust that the subject would prove a cakewalk to her.

When it became clear the silence was about to drag on indefinitely, Jaune raised his hand up. There was no pompousness in offering to answer when no one else was willing to, or so he would think.

"Yes, Mister Schnee?" The teacher acknowledged the submission.

"Water, Rock, Burn, Frost, Air, Energy and Gravity." Jaune recited without stuttering in the slightest. "All other forms are either a combination of these or some other derivative."

"And the Time Dust?" The teacher asked.

"It is essentially a condensed form of Gravity Dust." Jaune replied. "According to Dreistein's theory of general relativity, gravity itself is merely a distortion..."

"I wasn't asking you to explain the physics involved." Professor Mulberry cut off and, for a moment, Jaune wondered if he had overdone it. "Thank you nonetheless, Mister Schnee."

Jaune nodded, deciding not to make himself heard for the rest of the class. It seemed like here, in what was basically a public school, the standards for a comprehensive answer were quite low. Unsurprising.

"These seven elemental types of Dust are the only ones safe enough for practice at your current level." The teacher announced, addressing the entire class once more. "I shall now allow you to experiment with those basic forms, and by experiment I mean do exactly what I tell you to do and make predictions about what will happen, not mess around pointlessly."

The teacher then pointed towards a stack of boxes in the corner. "Let each pair take one. You may sort yourself by partnership, if that makes things easiest. As I don't have a convenient telekinetic semblance, I shall not distribute the kits myself."

The students then began picking up boxes, each of them turned out to be filled with several vials of Dust. Jaune was the first to get his hands on one because of how quick Nora was, while Blake and Yang waited to pick up theirs until after the initial crowd was gone. He considered walking up to them and offering to help them in the exercise - it would be a nice way to reinforce the bonds within the team - but decided against it. If Yang really had good grades she would surely know a thing or two about Dust, and Blake would probably be offended by the offer regardless of whether she knew what to do or not.

"Your task will be simple." Professor Mulberry announced. "Mix a vial of water dust with half a vial of energy dust by putting them in one container and heating them up. Keep your aura active throughout the entire process, for safety reasons. Once it's over, note the results."

It would produce Lightning Dust. Not of a very high quality, but it was how you made the stuff if you only had mundane equipment to utilize. It was an easy exercise, or at least it would be for Jaune. But there was a problem...

"So, Nora." Jaune addressed his partner, mentally searching for the best words available. "I think before we start we should divide the roles between the two of us. So that everything goes smoothly and without incidents." Incidents such as Nora blowing something up, of course. Jaune didn't know how good she was with the substance, but considering how reckless and enthusiastic she was, he didn't feel comfortable letting her experiment with Dust. There would be an argument, but...

"Sure." Nora replied. "How about you do the mixing and heating and I just pass you what you need?"

Jaune blinked. "That sounds fairly good, yes."

"Did I say something wrong?" Nora cocked an eyebrow. "You seem surprised."

"No, it's just..." Jaune couldn't figure out how to voice his thoughts politely, so he decided not to voice them at all. "Never mind. Pass me a vial of Water Dust, I think it would be better to start with that."

"I've got you." Nora reached for the kit and, correctly recognizing which vial contained Water Dust, picked that one up and passed it to Jaune.

"Thank you." Jaune poured the content of the vial into the small, glass bowel provided by the kit. He did it carefully, not because this type of Dust was particularly dangerous, but because that was the default approach when working with dust. You were careful.

Once the cyan substance was inside the container, Jaune placed said container onto the heater, preparing to begin the process right after the mixture was created. He wanted to ask Nora for a vial of Lightning Dust, but his partner was quicker than that – she was pressing the vial into Jaune's hand the moment he turned around.

"Here you go." Nora said with a smile on her face.

"Thank you again." Jaune accepted the Dust. "Just maybe be a little more careful with the stuff. It's quite volatile."

"Right, sorry." Nora nodded. "I'll just let you do your thing."

"That might be for the best." Jaune agreed and took to the next task. He tilted the flask as to slowly pour the energy dust into the container. The reaction wouldn't start immediately, not with portions of dust diluted to this extent, and he would have to heat the ingredients before any kind of…

The boiling water exploded out of the container, in quantities far larger than the little thing would normally be able to contain. Water Dust must have been unleashed somehow, releasing the potential bound within

Then again, Jaune wasn't exactly focused on contemplating the mechanics involved in the event. He was busied shielding his face with his hand, while his aura had been activated in an even more instinctual reaction. It was the latter that protected him from any real harm, preventing the heat from doing any damage… but there was something about being splashed by water you felt to be boiling hot that made Jaune yelp uncontrollably.

"Jaune!" That voice belonged to Yang, the huntress running up to Jaune with more worry she usually exhibited. "You alright?"

She wasn't the only one who took notice. Nora looked at her partner with a strange expression, the closest thing to fear Jaune ever saw on her face. Blake looked unsettled as well, which spoke volumes of how bad it must have looked like. Other students looked mildly bothered for the most part, though Ruby's gasp of horror could be heard even from across the room.

"I'm fine!" Jaune exclaimed once he was sure of the fact, not wanting to cause panic or evoke too much pity.

"Are you sure of that, Mister Schnee?" The teacher approached Jaune, looking over his student cautiously. "Dust accidents can be dangerous in various ways. How did this one come to pass, I wonder?"

"I don't know." Jaune replied honestly, looking over the now wet equipment. "All I did was add some energy dust to the…"

The reason Jaune paused was the content of the bottle he used. The dust inside was dark red, far cry from the vibrant green of the Energy Dust and quite similar to the usual color of Burn Dust.

"I see applying the wrong type of dust was part of the problem." Professor Mulberry stated. "It doesn't explain why the reaction was so sudden and powerful, but perhaps you simply added too much too quickly."

"I made sure to do that carefully!" Jaune protested. Too late did he realize how unconvincing and downright pathetic it sounded. A student trying to deny his error.

"I don't doubt you were being careful, but it seems as though your standards for being careful are not appropriate." The teacher's voice was soft, but stern in a way that did not encourage further discussion. "For the rest of the class, please leave the technicalities to your partner. I do not wish to see more such incidents."

Jaune bit down the urge to argue some more and simply nodded. Even though he heard no laughs or snide comments, he knew exactly what people were thinking. A local know-it-all fails horribly at the simplest of tasks. Money can't buy everything. Something something.

"Sorry about that." Nora said once the teacher departed. "I must have gotten the vials confused."

"No, that doesn't explain it all." Jaune shook his head. "Diluted forms of Dust aren't that reactive, and I only added a speck of it. Even if you screwed up, it shouldn't have resulted in something this spectacular."

"Hey, accidents happen." Yang interjected. "There's no need to search for some hidden meaning in everything. Better to just move on."

 _Don't feel too bad about screwing up._ Jaune could the hidden meaning in that message, but he could also see how arguing wouldn't take him anywhere.

"Alright Nora, you handle the Dust from now on." Jaune directed. He then sat back, droplets of water still dripping from his uniform, and allowed his partner to take over the desk.

The remainder of the lesson went by without further incidents. Nora, while obviously an amateur, was more than able to carry out the other tasks the professor presented them with. After a while Jaune stopped paying attention to what she was doing and began pondering about possible explanations of the anomaly he had just witnessed.

By the time the lesson ended, he had no solid idea of what happened, but knew exactly who to ask.

He requested his team to go on without him, leaving the three girls behind. Instead he located and followed Team RRWP, all of them leaving the classroom in one formation. Said formation broke once Ruby noticed Jaune approaching and ran up to meet him.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked. "I didn't want to ask you during the class cause I was worried you wouldn't like it, but now we can talk as much as we want, so…"

"It's nothing, Ruby." Jaune cut in. "Your concern flatters me, but I'm alright."

"You sure?" Ruby kept asking. It was somewhat weird – wasn't that the same girl who told Ren to jump into Nevermore's beak? – but charming in its own way. It was also not the reason Jaune came over.

"Yes, I'm sure. Can I talk to Weiss for a second?" Jaune turned to face his sister, who was currently wearing a blank expression. Her teammates weren't quite as serene, all of them flinching as though they expected a firefight to break out.

"It's alright." Weiss told them. "Give the two of us some space, please."

"Alright, I guess." Ruby said, not convinced but not about to argue from the looks of it. "Team RRWP, you may scatter."

Pyrrha and Ren did as ordered, each walking off in their own direction. Ruby walked away as well, roughly in the direction of her dorm, but not before throwing Jaune and Weiss one last, nervous glance.

Jaune found himself impressed at how well his sister interacted with her teammates. They seemed concerned for her well-being, not that annoyed with her and she even figured out how to get them to do something without having to bark orders. In some other situations, perhaps Jaune would congratulate her. But now there was something else on his mind.

"So, brother." Weiss was the first one to break the silence. "What is it that you wished to talk about?"

"Weiss, please don't play dumb here." Jaune requested. "You know exactly what it's about."

"Jaune, please don't play the 'don't play dumb' card against me." Weiss replied. "It's not going to magically make me throw away all plausible deniability and just tell you what you want to know."

"Worth a shot." Jaune shrugged. "So, what can I give you to tell me how you pulled that off?"

"You care about it that much?" Weiss raised an eyebrow, before adding. "Not that I had anything to do with your little accident, of course."

"Just curious." Jaune replied, trying not to show how worried he really was. If Weiss possessed some capabilities to which he was ignorant, it was quite important to find out what these qualities were. "Have you meddled with toolkits before the classes? Have you bribed the teacher? Maybe you had someone with a mind-altering semblance confuse all of us?"

Weiss didn't react to any of the questions, except by smiling with what seemed like genuine amusement. "Really? These are your best guesses? Nothing simpler comes to mind?"

"What do you mean?" Jaune blinked. "Was there really a simpler way to pull off that prank?"

"Well now I'm certainly not telling you." The pink-haired girl smiled even broader. "It will be hilarious once you figure that out, assuming you ever will."

"Fine." Jaune sighed. "But I'm not content with calling that even. Your little prank carried a risk of killing me right there."

"We did more dangerous things as training." Weiss shot back. "Or perhaps you are just upset you came out looking like a fool?"

"Either way, I reserve the right to retaliate." Jaune replied, stone-faced.

"I will be waiting." Weiss replied, thereon turned around and marched away, soon disappearing behind a corner.

Jaune felt like cursing loudly. He didn't, just in case there was someone who could hear him and correct his manners, but by Gods did he feel like it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting – obviously Weiss would not betray her advantage this easily – but he was hoping for something that would make him less confused.

He decided to leave that issue be for the time being. If you didn't know how to properly explain something, it was important that you did not attempt to create an explanation for the sake of it, since that was how delusions formed.

Instead, he tried to focus his thoughts on something more productive. Wisely or not, he had promised Weiss his retribution and he would come off as weak if he failed to deliver. Then again, he couldn't retaliate with too much force

He had to ask Nora about that. What pranks to use, that is. He doubted she understood concepts such as escalation of conflict. Still, she was definitely creative and he couldn't see any harm in asking her for help. He had to get around to conversing with her soon.

Even sooner though, he kind of needed dry clothes.

* * *

Ren didn't mind Beacon.

If he were to share this opinion with his newfound friends, they probably wouldn't be surprised. Ren gave off an impression of someone without strong feelings on anything and was fully aware of that. He even found it somewhat useful, as it made people less likely to ask for his opinion or advice, request that he would not normally refuse, but that he preferred would not be made. He didn't like talking very much.

All of that said, Ren did have strong preferences about a lot of things. He much preferred silence to noise, vanilla to chocolate, puppies to Grimm and so on. Beacon Academy simply didn't meet or violate any of those preferences any more than his life thus far had.

There was some learning. That was normal. There was some fighting, which was also normal. There were ready meals at the cafeteria, which did feel somewhat unusual, but he had enough free time to engage in cooking, so it was no big change for him. And of course, while there were new people around, there was also the one person that had been a constant in Ren's life for about as long as he could remember.

Ren observed the three young women of team JNBY, Nora among them, chat with one another, perhaps about the events that had transpired in the classroom. Well, only one of them really chatted – Yang was the only one who was constantly talking, Blake only giving replies or short remarks. Nora, interestingly enough, also appeared to be staying out of the conversation. Ren tuned out the content of the exchange, so that it didn't qualify as eavesdropping, but if it was about what he thought it was about… it led him to a certain unpleasant conclusion.

The conversation ended with Yang dragging Blake somewhere by the elbow and Nora excusing herself. The redhead then, driven by what had to be instinct at this point, approached Ren at a pace only a bit slower than running.

"How was the lesson, Renny?" Nora asked, as Ren knew she would. But there was something unnatural about it, a question subtly different from the kind of Nora would usually ask. More importantly, it was only one question, not a barrage Ren would normally expect.

"Quite well, in fact." Ren said as he began walking down the hallway. Nora followed, signifying that she wasn't troubled quite enough to turn down his company. "Nothing blew up in my face, at least."

"Yeah. I guess that's lucky…" Nora averted her gaze.

"You know, I really do wonder what happened with your partner there." Ren decided to be a little more direct. "I wouldn't expect Jaune, of all people, to mess up this badly."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Nora retorted. "Don't be so harsh on Jaune here."

"I was just running through possible explanations, and thought that maybe someone sabotaged him on accident." Ren kept his gaze centered on Nora, who in turn kept her gaze at a nearby wall. "But that would be ridiculous. It would take some insanely clever planning to carry out such a plan unnoticed."

It was bait. Nora knew it was bait, she wasn't stupid. But if there were two things she couldn't resist, they were pancakes and praise. She kept walking in silence for approximately seventeen seconds, looked around as to check whether there was anyone else listening, before finally bursting out.

"I know, right? Even I wasn't sure if we would pull that one off!" If Nora made any attempt to turn down the pride in her voice, it didn't show. "We had to ask around about how perceptive the prof was, and then we found out that he always started out with teaching Dust Use, so Weiss gave me this bottle of dust and Ruby had that Coco girl use her semblance to amplify it and even then I didn't know if I would get an opportunity or if it would work as expected…" Nora finally ran out of breath. "Anyways, it worked out just fine."

"I certainly did." Ren nodded. "Now, care to tell me why have you decided to go through with that?"

"Is that really so weird?" Nora got unusually defensive at the accusation. "I am no stranger to playing pranks."

"It's not the prank that's weird." Ren replied. "It's the fact that you were so sneaky about it, but you still decided to bring Weiss into it. Especially after you pranked Weiss yesterday."

"How did you… ugh, I forgot you're not as oblivious as the others." Nora groaned.

"I just know you really well." Ren smiled, before turning his expression serious once more. "Now will you tell me why you did that, or do we have to go through our usual routine again?"

Nora pouted. By now she was familiar with the process of getting interrogated, refusing to break under the pressure, then telling Ren everything anyway because keeping secrets for too long felt bad. It looked like she was willing to skip it for once.

"Well, you see how these two behave towards one another." The ginger finally replied. "Weiss and Jaune, I mean. They are constantly looking for ways to outdo the other one, maybe even hurt each other. I did not enjoy that, so I took the steps to improve the arrangement."

"By giving them more reasons to hate one another?" Ren cocked an eyebrow.

"By making their little rivalry less fierce." Nora corrected. "If my calculations are correct, they will now be so focused on creating interesting pranks, that they won't bother with anything serious. No libel, no murder attempts, just making the other person look funny for a moment or two. And we might have some harmless fun getting on it too."

"You poured boiling water on Jaune." Ren deadpanned. "I wouldn't call that harmless."

"As harmless as it can be." Nora amended. "He had aura active, so it's not that dangerous. Though I guess I can make the future pranks more harmless, now that the gloves have been thrown."

"Safety concerns aside, don't you think you are going about it the wrong way?" Ren asked. "I don't relish seeing their conflict unfold either way, but doesn't this solution strike you as… manipulative?"

"Don't start with that." Nora sighed. "I thought about it as well, but then I remembered what happened during the initiation. These two are manipulative as hell and they would continue to be manipulative if I haven't given them something else to do. By convincing them to resort to pranks, I lower the overall level of manipulativeness around here. I'm, like, reverse-manipulative."

"Even aside of the faulty grammar, I'm not sure if I like this idea."

"Well you don't have to contribute. Just don't tell anyone and things will unfold on their own. I'll just spice things up a little when needed."

"Nora…"

"Look." Nora's expression took a serious, somewhat tired hue. "I get what you're saying. I don't enjoy doing all that stuff either. Alright, maybe a little, but I still wouldn't do that if I didn't think I had to."

" _Do_ you have to this?" Ren expressed his doubt. "I know it sounds bad, but shouldn't you just let them play the games they want, at their own risks?"

"They don't know the risks!" To Ren's surprise, Nora raised her voice quite a bit. "Jaune doesn't, at least. He thinks about what happens if he loses, but not about how much time he has to spend thinking about how to win, or just how damn unhealthy it is. He doesn't know what his game really means, and neither do you."

"Me?" Ren asked, taken aback by that last part. "What do I not understand?"

"That we might end up pulled into this as well." Nora replied grimly. "Not in an obvious way, maybe, but there is no way we will remain untouched if that thing drags out for too long. We might end up as casualties, or worse, drafted and put into different trenches. Made to deliver info on the other team, made to spread rumors about the other guys or made to help Jaune or Weiss in some way I can't think of right now. Don't you see how this might become a problem?"

Ren considered that chain of logic. To his horror, it seemed fairly solid – he already knew that Jaune was willing to work with Nora in order to spite his sister, and vice versa. Neither of them was above asking others for help in their conflict, and Ren got the feeling they would do more than just ask if they really needed help. He wouldn't do anything to harm Nora, of course, but if he somehow got persuaded into making life harder for her team leader and it affected Nora indirectly, wouldn't that be just as bad? Pranks, even as extreme as Nora's, had limited effects. Maybe it really was for the best of everyone involved.

"I don't like this." He sighed. "I don't think I agree with this. But I accept it. I won't interfere in whatever you're doing with this matter."

"Great!" Nora exclaimed so cheerfully, Ren found himself doubting if all her earlier distress had been genuine. "I will take care of everything. Just don't go snitching on me or anything and don't help Weiss figure out what's happening. Don't give her any tips on how to wash her hair too, she's just too funny like this."

"I suppose I can work with that." Ren sighed. He had to consciously remind himself that with how stubborn Nora could be, that was probably the best arrangement there was to be reached.

"Though if you have some mayonnaise at disposal, I'll take it. You know, so that I can make the next prank something totally harmless."

Ren felt like he had to reconsider his feelings on Beacon.

* * *

 **It feels sort of weird to be writing 'mentioned once in a novel' characters like Peach or Mulberry. They are not technically OCs, but they have to be written like OCs in basically every respect, and therefore I automatically turn extra careful as to avoid bad OC tropes. Annoying.**

 **Also, I've taken some liberties explaining Dust, because the show never gave us a solid idea of how the stuff works. I might have contradicted something the creators said, but if so I consider that a necessary evil. Gotta make it clear what toys the main characters have at their disposal.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, some of the reviewers were weirded out by how severe the prank on Jaune was, stating that it sabotaged his academic performance and actually counted as escalating the conflict. To which I say; Really? I'm attending college currently – well not right now, we kind of have a quarantine in my place – and I wouldn't be too bothered by some mishap happening to me in the lab. Even if it did affect one's grades, those don't really matter to most people. Unless you are struggling to pass or applying for some sort of grant, grades are not something you should be very concerned about. So even if Jaune's overall performance gets affected, it won't actually hurt him. Pouring boiling water over him _could_ have hurt him, which is why Nora has her second thoughts, not ultimately not much harm was done.**

 **If you're still bothered by it, just assume it's nothing important for whatever reason. I perceive it that way and that's how most characters will view it if the subject ever gets brought up again.**

* * *

Roman overlooked the row of people arranged before him. Or rather animals, as all of them had some faunus traits, be it outward or hidden, a requirement for being a member of the esteemed White Fang. For about a hundredth time, the thief wondered why he stooped down to dealing with such scum. Then, for a hundredth time, he reminded himself that it was his safest bet with Cinder breathing down his neck. Though at the moment, it was the other potentially dangerous person who was now literally breathing on Roman's neck.

"Here are the forces you asked for." Adam Taurus said, the tone of his voice betraying that he enjoyed the meeting about as much as Roman did. "I believe your escapades will go smoother with their help."

Calling that group of faunus 'forces' was being somewhat generous. Just two dozen young men and women, all undoubtedly eager to beat someone up, probably less eager to work with a human. Roman doubted most, if any of them had anything that could be considered martial training – from what he knew about the White Fang it seemed most of its forces consisted of civilians who were shown how to shoot and maybe swing a sword.

Granted, it wasn't like Roman often got to work with anything better. The thugs he hired in Junior's Club had turned out pathetically weak and they were considered professionals by the standards of Vale's underworld. Those kids weren't great, but maybe they would do the trick… provided they had some relevant experience.

"Has any of them been involved in a more down to remnant sort of crime?" Roman asked. He then decided to test his boundaries when it came to teasing. "I'm not implying that your kind is any more likely to commit crimes…"

"They are fresh recruits for the most parts." Taurus cut in. "Some of them might have been forced into stealing at one point or another, but don't expect them to have much experience."

But of course, you couldn't expect White Fang to spare its best and brightest to the task. Roman would have to make do with some rookies, figure out how to manage them himself and if something went wrong, he would be the one to blame.

Then again, there were benefits to commanding someone disposable. He felt Cinder wouldn't bat an eye if some young faunus died during a heist and while he wouldn't admit it in the open, Taurus probably wouldn't mind much either. Every cloud had a silver lining, it seemed.

"I will have to show them the ropes and how to tie people with them, but I guess they will do." Roman replied. If any of the faunus was upset at being treated dismissively, they didn't speak out. At the very least, they knew their place. Splendid. "I suppose we are done here?"

"Not quite yet." Taurus replied, to Roman's unpleasant surprise. "We need to talk in private. Soldiers, remain."

The bull faunus then headed towards the door. Roman quickly considered his options and decided that following didn't entail any extraordinary risks – if Taurus intended to kill or harm his fabulous coworker, he could just as well try his luck with his pack of animals in the room. And so Roman obliged, leaving the room as well.

"Is that really something important?" He asked once it seemed like there was no one around to hear them. "I have a robbery planned in just few hours and I'm afraid I won't be able to use my new mooks for much."

"They are the soldiers of the White Fang." The faunus shot back. "Ones dedicated enough to stand working with a human. I'd rather you appreciated it."

"Of course. My gratitude is immeasurable." Roman rolled his eyes and then fixed them to oversee Taurus' reaction. It was hard to tell what he exactly was feeling, not in small part due to that damn mask, but he stopped himself from retorting. Interesting. Telling. "Now, what is it that I may help you with."

The bull faunus remained silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, the tone was calm, measured. "There is a girl in Beacon Academy, one of the first year students. She used to the part of the Fang, but defected a while ago, sabotaging a major raid in the process. We would like to punish her for her betrayal."

Something told Roman it was less of a 'we' and more of a 'I', since the matter seemed personal. He wouldn't jump to point that out, however, just in case it was personal enough for a mere mention to anger the bull faunus.

"I'm not sure what I have to do with this problem." He replied instead. "Because if you expect me to break into Beacon and slit the brat's throat in her sleep, that might be a little beyond my skills."

"You think I don't know that?" Taurus growled. "Some of Vale's best huntsmen are working in Beacon and I bet they're taking their duties seriously. Any direct attempt to break into the school is bound to fail, and I don't see a way to infiltrate it at this point. But students don't spend all their time enclosed and the whole rest of Vale seems to be your domain."

"So you don't have a solution, but you're hoping your friendly thief will come up with one?" Roman summed up. "Fair enough. But why are you asking me to do this?"

 _Why not ask Cinder?_ Roman wondered if his interlocutor would catch the implicit meaning.

"I don't want to owe Cinder too much." For better or worse, he had caught the meaning. "But I don't mind owing you a favor."

"Fascinating." Roman made that sound sarcastic, but in truth he really was interested. One of White Fang's leaders offering a favor to some smelly human? Well that was something. "And what do you think it is you may offer me?"

"What do you think happens after Cinder is done here?" Unexpectedly, Taurus replied with a question of his own. "I have resources she can use elsewhere, but your usefulness is quite limited. And something tells me you two aren't best of friends."

"Yes, thank you for stating obvious facts." Roman snarked. "What about it? Can you promise to protect me?"

"Is that so unbelievable? If I'm forced to work with humans, I might work with some a little longer. And I don't think you have many other options."

"Well I don't have a guarantee either." Roman shot back. "Favors are only worth something if there is a reason to uphold them."

"True." Taurus shrugged, apparently taking no offense to his honor. "If you don't think the reward is worth the risk, you don't have to bother. But I think you will take that risk if you see the opening."

Well then, the cattle boy wasn't all that stupid. At the very least, he could understand how to negotiate with someone other than his fellow animals. That didn't necessarily paint him as cunning, but it did raise his threat level a little bit, to an even more uncomfortable level. Turning him down outright didn't seem like a good idea.

"Alright, I'll capture your little runaway if I ever run into her." Roman agreed. "But if you want me to start looking at her, you'll have to offer me something more concrete."

"Something tells me you won't have to." Taurus replied. "Just keep your eyes open for a brunette with feline ears and the strangest outfit around. Some people like looking for trouble, and she is most definitely one of them."

"I know the type." Roman nodded. He still remembered the time he was robbing a random dust store and ran into a girl with a mecha-shift scythe and a little too much bravery for anyone's good. That alone was enough to convince him that they were, indeed, people who were just looking for trouble and people who would always run into trouble somehow, him belonging to the latter category.

As he saw the bull faunus march away, apparently satisfied with the arrangement, roman wondered where that damn girl was now. She seemed like a wannabe huntress, but looked a little too young to be attending any of the Academies just yet. She was probably attending some combat school, struggling with the exams, too far away from Roman to disrupt his plans in any way.

Assuming the universe had any sense of fairness, that is.

Roman exited the building and looked around. He was satisfied to see a young woman wait nearby, short and slim, dressed in a colorful outfit that matched her hair and eyes with shades of brown and pink. With her stature and an umbrella at her side, she could look harmless to someone who had spent less than a minute in her presence, but Roman knew just how dangerous the girl really was.

Neopolitan looked at Roman, and took a step towards him, the sound of her heels clicking the only thing that pierced the silence.

"It looks like I'm done talking for today Neo." He said, understanding the silent question. "We may go town now, rob another store, maybe go pick up some ice cream on our way back."

Neo looked at him with suspicion, silently asking where was the catch.

"We will have to take some new people with us." Roman explained. "Grunts from the White Fang that need to see how it's done."

Neo rolled her eyes, as to express her displeasure.

"Look at it this way; Don't you welcome a chance to show some arrogant faunus brats who is the most dangerous person around here?"

Neo though about it for a moment, before smiling broadly. Roman suspected she had come up with some messy idea, but right now he was just glad to have her on board. Neo didn't work well with most people, which was why he rarely took her on raids these days, but he had recently learned why having someone to help him escape efficiently was important.

"I have a target planned and I think we will encounter just enough resistance to make it fun." Roman tried sweetening the deal even more, just to be sure. It successfully removed all stains of doubt from Neo's face, and the girl gripped her umbrella, as though already itching for action.

"That's the spirit." Roman smiled. "And Neo? Keep your eyes opened for catgirls. I heard there is a demand for one."

Neo blinked.

"That's just our life now." Roman sighed. "Let's go. We have a fight waiting for us."

* * *

Ruby made a quick assessment of her forces. The prodigy warrior Pyrrha Nikos and the not-quite-prodigy-but-still-cool huntsman Lie Ren stood ready, awaiting her orders. Then there was Weiss, in her usual white attire and with her trusted rapier at her side. Her long hair was once again snow-white, having only recently managed to wash all the dye off, and now she looked as combat capable as ever.

With such friends at her side, Ruby felt sort of confident. Only sort of, because she knew that what they were about to face was just as scary as them. Even now she wouldn't focus all of her attention on her team, occasionally glancing toward the blood-red bushes just in case something was about to jump out of them and attack their group, using the element of surprise as their edge.

"Friends and Weiss." Ruby addressed her teammates, earning a quiet sigh from Weiss. She suppressed a giggle - she had recently learned how fun teasing Weiss like that was, but she wouldn't push it too far. "We have gathered here to rehearse our plans and give our farewells before the battle. And believe me, the battle is coming. Here, in the forests of Forever Fall, our ancient enemies are about to attack us in hopes of destroying us once and for all."

"It's been just two months, Ruby." Ren sighed, a little louder than his partner. "And I don't think anyone from JNBY actually wants to kill us."

"Quiet, soldier." Ruby reprimanded her teammate. "As I was saying, these are our most vicious enemies we're facing. They spent the last fifty seven days harassing us and playing stupid pranks at us. Mostly Weiss. We were forced to retaliate by having them taste their own medicine. Mostly Jaune. But if they use area of effect attack we will all get hit, so we are in this together."

"We could scatter." Pyrrha suggested, only to wince when she met Ruby's stare. "Sorry. We are totally in this together."

"Regardless," Ruby carried on. "We are facing grave danger. This trip is a perfect opportunity for Team JNBY to attack us, as we are far from our teachers' watchful eyes and there is plenty of ammunition everywhere." Ruby glanced toward the set of jars, each one of them containing a sizable volume of Red Sap. According to Professor Peach, it had some spectacular properties in plant science, but that didn't really matter at the moment. All it was now was a sticky substance that could be spilled on someone, running their dress, hair and day. "For all we know, they could be trying to surround us as we speak. I'm saying we go on the offensive."

"Can't we just wait somewhere safe until the trip is over and we get carried back to Beacon?" Weiss suggested. "I doubt they will do anything with Miss Goodwitch watching."

 _Yeah, but there wouldn't be any fun in this._ Ruby thought.

"That's just what they are expecting of us." Ruby said. "We have to surprise them, take initiative and stuff. Besides, don't you want payback for that prank with a possum?"

Weiss' nostrils flared. Though her pride wouldn't let her concede the argument just like that, Ruby could see her teammate was sold on the idea of attack, just like this. "I suppose I have no choice but to follow your lead. But if my dress gets all covered in sap, you owe me one."

"Don't you have, like, ten copies of the same thing to wear every day?" Ruby asked, but backed off when she saw Weiss irritation rise even further. "But yeah, I'll take full responsibility for my choices as a leader. Now, can we go kick some butt?"

"After you." Ren agreed. Weiss and Pyrrha simply nodded. Everyone then grabbed one jar of Red Sap each, leaving four to submit as an assignment and aiming to use the rest as weapons in the incoming battle.

And just like that, Team RRWP assembled for war.

The first order Ruby gave was one to march off in the direction where she suspected the enemy team might be. About half an hour earlier, almost the exact moment the class was allowed to get off the bullhead and told to start collecting sap, their two teams hurried to get far away from one another, everyone suspecting was coming. Now that they were properly armed, it was time to close the distance.

There was no guarantee it was the right direction, of course, since it was very likely Jaune had moved his forces somewhere else completely. But it was alright. If they ended up not encountering Team JNBY until it was time to go, that would mean they avoided the attack and won. If they ended up encountering the enemy and winning, that would mean they won, obviously. And if they encountered the enemy and Weiss did end up covered with sap, then it would be kind of funny, which counted as a victory in Ruby's books.

Strategy was easy. You just had to pick a plan with which you couldn't lose.

"I sense something." Ren suddenly said, forcing Ruby to cease congratulating herself on her tactical skills and start paying attention to her surroundings. "A singular source of aura, likely another student."

"It seems like one of them broke out from the main force." Ruby concluded. "That is the perfect opportunity to attack."

"That really seems like a trap." Weiss protested.

"Well yes…" Ruby could see it now as well, the opportunity too convenient not to be some sort of bait. But she remembered being told that a leader had to be confident in their decisions, so she couldn't back out now. "...which is why we should attack at once!"

"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha blinked.

"Jaune likes planning a lot, so he surely came up with some complicated scheme that hinges on us not taking the bait. We will surprise him by being unpredictable and taking the bait, thus ruining his plan." Ruby explained. It actually sounded really convincing when she put it like that.

"That's really not how scheming works…" Weiss muttered.

"I think they are approaching." Ren stated. "We better make a choice right now."

"The choice had already been made." Ruby announced. "The die is cast. Team RRWP, attack!"

Ruby then sprinted forwards, hoping her teammates would follow. They did, though with various levels of enthusiasm. Satisfied, she focused her attention ahead as she rushed towards the impending enemy.

As she emerged onto a clearing, Ruby spotted her target. An enemy combatant, dressed in black and while, with mane of black hair flowing behind her, looking deceptively similar to Blake. Or, realistically, just Blake. She wasn't holding a jar of sap of her own, or any sort of weapon for that matter. She seemed unarmed, maybe coming to surrender.

Ruby halted, but only once she had crossed half the clearing and cut off one of Blake's potential retreat routes. Her companions arrived shortly after, surrounding the girl in a perfect… some sort of quadrangle. They didn't attack, as they haven't been ordered to shoot without an order given. Good soldiers, all of them.

"Blake Belladonna." Ruby said loud and clear. "We request your immediate surrender as the member of Team JNBY. If you place your weapons down, if you have them that is, we promise you fair treatment under the rules of…"

"Sure." Blake rolled her eyes. "I wasn't really participating in that stupid game anyway. Jaune told me to march in your direction, so I agreed just for the peace of mind."

"Why did he tell you to do that?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know." Blake shrugged. "I was not told what the plan is."

"Ah, he didn't tell you so that we wouldn't think to torture you for information." Ruby said. "Villain he might be, he does care about his women. As in his men, but in feminine."

"I just didn't ask." Blake replied. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Before Ruby could come up with any guess, she heard Ren shout out a warning. "Watch out!"

Ruby reacted immediately, the unusual sound of Ren screaming snapping her to attention. A split second later she saw a missile – a half-filled jar of Red Sap – soaring through the air, straight towards Weiss. Luckily the heiress was quick on her feet as well and jumped sideways, narrowly dodging the jar that then fell on the ground, harming nobody.

"Did it hit!?" Ruby heard a voice she recognized as her sisters'. "I don't hear any screams, so probably not. Damn it!"

"You don't have to do this, Yang!" Ruby stepped forwards, in the direction from which the jar flew from. "We are family, I know you don't want to fight me!"

Just as Ruby finished, another jar flew through the air, this time directly at her, at even higher a speed. She had to use her semblance to doge, and even then it was only by inches that she avoided being splashed with the sticky substance.

Gosh, what was she thinking? Of course Yang wanted to fight her, they hadn't been able to go one night without a pillow fight back when they were sleeping in one room. It was sister against sister in this war.

"They had been collecting sap as we marched." Ren said. "And it's not exactly hard to collect. They probably have a lot to throw at us, assuming Nora hasn't drunk too much."

Ruby sighed. Even though for they knew it was four against one, numbers didn't matter all that much. Yang had a really good throwing arm and a fairly good aim, so chances were they would get hit eventually. Unless, of course, they got her first, but that would mean closing the distance and likely getting hit at least once before reaching the blonde. Ruby at least could dodge efficiently, the other not so given that they were carrying jars themselves. The safest option seemed to be retreat, but that would just feel dumb.

Ruby took a glance at her forces. Blake was not there, somehow having disappeared as they were talking. Weiss, Ren and Pyrrha were still there, all standing and tense, waiting for their leader to give a command or for another missile to fly their way. They seemed demoralized, which meant they needed a quick victory to boost their spirits.

"We charge at once." Ruby decided. She kept her voice somewhat quiet, as to not let Yang hear her. "Drop your jars so that you can proceed quicker, we will use some of their stock if necessary. If someone gets hit during the assault, leave them where they lie. We will nurture the wounded and bury the dead once our enemies lie defeated."

"This is all so silly." Weiss massaged her palm. This moment of inattention almost cost her dearly, as when another jar flew her way, Pyrrha had to push her out of the way almost getting hit herself. Luckily neither of them got the sap in the end.

"Still no screams." Yang's voice was dripping with disappointment. "Tell me it was at least close?"

"Focus on the battle, soliders." Ruby commanded, before turning to face the trees once more. By now she thought she had a good idea where Yang was hiding, having seen a glimpse of yellow amidst all the red. "At my signal."

"What is the signal?" Pyrrha asked.

Ruby though about it for a moment. "Now."

"Is now the signal, or are we attacking now?" Ren seemed confused.

"I was just stating what the signal would be." Ruby replied. "Now."

"Were you repeating what the signal was, or were you actually using it this time?" Weiss asked.

"You know, I could have taken you off-guard just now, but this is just too good to interrupt." Yang commented, clearly amused.

Ruby sighed. "Just go get her." She then lifted off and ran towards the tree from behind which Yang's voice was coming, counting on her teammates following the charge.

When Yang stuck her neck out from behind the trunk and threw another jar, Ruby found herself prepared. She ducked and rolled onto the ground, dodging the projectile by a wide margin and saving herself a shower of sticky sap. Unfortunately, when she stopped rolling, she found herself lying on the ground right next to Yang, who as Ruby could now see, had at least a dozen jars close at hand and ready to be used.

"Hi sis." The blonde said casually, reaching for another jar with equal calmness.

Ruby regretted she did not bring a jar of her own, for the fear of it slowing her down. Though in truth it probably wouldn't matter that much, given that she couldn't throw it while prone, and getting up would take about half a second too long. As she realized how doomed she was, Ruby mentally prayed for a swift end and for Red Sap to be easily washed from her combat dress.

And then, as Yang grasped the glass container, Ren jumped from behind a nearby tree. With speed even Ruby found impressive, he ran to the stack of jars and picked one up, immediately bracing to throw said jar at Yang.

Now, Ren wasn't so quick as to do all that instantly. Yang also had a jar in her hand now and was ready to throw. But given how much she liked her outfit and how much more she liked her hair, her decision was fairly easy to predict.

"I give up." She blurted out, dropping the jar. "You win, fair and square."

"Well that was easy enough." Weiss said, her and Pyrrha emerging from the crimson bushes. "Though I do wonder where the rest of your team is."

"Are you asking me to betray my comrades in arms?" Yang asked with a slight smile. "I'm not sure how it looks at your side, but there is comradery in team JNBY."

"Will that comradery last if we dip you in all that sap?" Weiss retorted with a question of her own.

"I'm pretty sure torture is forbidden under the rules of war." Pyrrha pointed out.

"It's not torture, more like enhanced interrogation." Weiss replied. She then winced. "Great, now I'm starting to buy into this too. Can you please just tell me where my brother is, so that I can spill some sap over him before I go insane from all this?"

"Not sure where he is right now." Yang replied. "But he should be here in a moment."

Just as Yang uttered the last word, another figure emerged from the forest. It was also blonde, somewhat taller, much broader in shoulders and generally looked a lot more like Jaune than Yang did. He was holding a jar with both his hands and running towards the opposing group, with no sign of having any clever tactic other than to throw the jar once he got close enough to someone and without any concern for his own safety. Apparently, having seen his primary plan fail, Jaune Arc decided to go out in style.

He was fairly close to succeeding, as Ruby had no idea how to stop him at the moment. Neither did Weiss and neither did Ren, judging from their reluctance to act. Perhaps they were just shocked, as the turn of events was surprising to say the least.

Luckily, Pyrrha knew better than to stand there and take it. She countercharge Jaune, despite having no weapon of her own, showing no fear or hesitation. When Jaune raised the jar in defense, Pyrrha simply closed the distance and wrestled the container out of Jaune's hands. No, not wrestled, simply took it as though it was being handed over, with nothing but complete ease.

Having lost his weapon and seeing it aimed at him, Jaune jerked to the side as though trying to dodge. He failed to move an inch, however, as though some invisible force was preventing him from moving. Pyrrha opened the jar without any haste and, with one swift move, spilled the contents all over her opponent.

There were no fanfares, but this moment really felt like a triumphant victory. It was first blood and the blood of the enemy leader at that, which had to be worth a serious amount of points. As Ruby had predicted, her tactics paid off and brought her team to victory.

"Well that didn't go as well as I hoped." Jaune murmured, his armor dripping with a red, thick substance.

"Sorry." Pyrrha said with an awkward smile. "I was just following orders."

"And you did it real well." Ruby said. "Your semblance really is something."

Pyrrha smiled a little broader, in a slightly different way. Maybe pride, maybe embarrassment, it was hard to read like that. Ruby hadn't dared to ask why, but Pyrrha was always a little awkward when discussing her semblance, since they first breached the subject at the start of the school year. Was there something embarrassing about being able to control metals?

"Frankly, I'm not sure what you were expecting." Weiss said, addressing Jaune. "Splitting up your forces can't be a good tactic."

"Maybe you just can't see the merits of my strategy." Jaune retorted.

"Don't be ridiculous." Weiss huffed. "There is nothing to gain from… wait, where is Nora?"

As though answering Weiss' question, a ginger-haired creature swung from a tree. As in, she was hanging from a branch by her legs somehow, like a sloth or a particularly agile monkey, directly above Weiss' head. In her hands she was holding a jar, but not one filled with Red Sap. Rather it contained some other substance, greenish in color, a substance which was then spilled out of its container and onto the Schnee heiress below.

"Wahhh!" Weiss exclaimed as she covered her eyes, trying not to let any liquid under her eyelids. Ruby had already seen such process unfold and she wasn't sure if she like the results. "What is this?!"

"As I said, it didn't go quite as well as I hoped for." Jaune stated, pretty amused with the situation. "But I'll say it's good enough."

"I told you I can do it!" Nora stated, before jumping back on the ground. "Can I get my sap now? I think I was good today."

"Sure." Jaune shrugged. "I prepared a few extras, in case Yang actually managed to hit something."

"It's not fair." Yang grunted. "I did the biggest share of the work. And I almost hit two times."

Nora paid her teammate no mind as she scooted towards the pile of jars, opened one up and began sipping on the juice inside. Weiss also paid little attention to her surroundings, the consequence of having her eyes closed, but Ruby could already see what had been done to her.

Weiss' hair was bright green. Vibrantly green, green like a forest in the middle of summer, other than Forever Fall that is. It didn't look _bad_ , but it was just as unfitting as the pink variant, if not moreso.

"Ugh, don't tell me you did that again." Weiss groaned once she could actually see the effects herself. "I'll have to order the dissolver again. Amazing."

"We could go shopping together, find something that would match the color better." Ruby suggested, only to receive a piercing glare from Weiss. "Alright, point taken. We'll just order a bigger bottle this time."

"So… do we just call it a draw?" Ren asked. "I don't think any of us has a reason to keep fighting."

"Not a _draw_." Ruby objected. "We will make sure our propaganda focuses on the gains and downplays the losses, thus painting this as a victory and appeasing the populace."

"Wow. You either definitely should run in an election, or definitely shouldn't." Yang commented. "But yeah, let's just call it a draw."

"I am fine with that." Jaune shrugged. "Let's just go back to the landing zone before someone gets…"

Suddenly, everyone glanced in the same direction. Ruby deduced there was something to see there, and so she turned around, only to see Miss Goodwitch stand there with her crop in hand, looking dangerously annoyed.

"I told you to collect the sap and watch out for the Grimm." She said in a calm, yet cold tone. "You somehow managed to fail at both tasks, wasting forest resources on pointless games and teeming with negativity all the while. Yet I am not impressed."

"I feel pretty positive." Ruby argued, only to wither under the teacher's murderous gaze.

"Well, we have collected the sap as required." Jaune replied, pointing to the stack of jars under a nearby tree. He then paled a little bit.

All the class containers were not only empty, but _clean_ of any sap. Near the stack sat Nora, her face a little dirty with red, but content despite the rough situation.

"Guys I… I think we all lost that one." Yang said.

Ruby gulped.

/-/

The Headmaster's Office was a sparsely decorated room, really an empty, circular space with an entrance on one end and a desk on the other. Other than that, the only things to see were gears – some over Ruby's head, some adorning the walls, and even incorporated into a large chair on the other side of the desk. Ruby wasn't sure if they served any practical purpose, were meant to symbolize something or were put there because the architect really liked clocks. She leaned towards the last one, though it wasn't the most important thing on her mind at the moment.

The Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch was staring at her from the other side of the desk, no longer visibly angry, but even more serious. She had led Ruby to that room without having explained why, though Ruby suspected it was all a setup for a quiet execution, or something similarly fun.

"Miss Rose." She started. "Do you know why you were summoned here."

"Well no, you haven't answered any of the dozen times I asked." Ruby replied, although given the circumstances, she suspected what the reason could be. "Also, is the Headmaster around?"

"Professor Ozpin won't rescue you… I mean he won't assist me this time." Miss Goodwitch replied, causing Ruby to desperately start looking for an emergency exit. "Calm down young lady, I do not intend to punish you… per se."

"It really sounds like you would like to." Ruby pointed out.

"Nonsense." The Deputy denied. "I just wish to talk. I have picked this room because I am sure no one can overhear us here. And the matters I wish to discuss are somewhat personal."

"Alright." Ruby relaxed just a little bit. "What is it, exactly?"

"Well, Miss Rose." Though Miss Goodwitch still had the same, stone expression, it seemed as though she had trouble finding the right words for the occasion. "I have met you before you set a foot in Beacon, saw you fight criminals out of your own volition. From that I conclude you… possess a significant measure of good intentions, even if you have trouble acting on them the proper way."

"Thanks?" Ruby was unsure where this was going.

"It was a statement of a fact. And the reason why I trust you will help me with a problem I'm having. Namely, your team and the team your sister is on."

"You mean those pranks we make? Are they really that much of an issue?' Ruby asked, causing the teacher's eyes to narrow behind her glasses. "I mean of course it's an issue, I'll try to…"

"No, you need to understand what the problem is." Miss Goodwitch sighed. "For the longest time, your shenanigans were indeed tolerable. Annoying to hear about and certainly not commendable, but tolerable. But now the matter becomes somewhat more serious."

"You think we crossed a line this time?"

"No, though you could have attracted rapier wasps had they been any around." Miss Goodwitch replied, causing Ruby to shrink in shame. "No, my concern is for Beacon's principles and the reputation it gets for not upholding these principles."

Ruby barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She hadn't gotten in all that much trouble in Signal or while she was even younger, but she was familiar with the rhetoric. Every offence was an insult to some vague, unwritten values the school supposedly upheld. Somehow the teachers never failed to live up to these values, no matter what they did. Go figure.

Though maybe in a huntsman academy there was more value to such claims…

"You think we are being too… undisciplined?" Ruby took a guess.

"Undisciplined, frivolous and holding more malice for your fellow students than any of the forces you are trained to fight." The teacher specified. "So far you've only been noticed by your fellow students, so the damage was not too severe. But that will change. The first wave of exchange students is arriving this week and they will be staying in Beacon for months."

Oh right. Vytal Torunament was slowly approaching and that meant a lot of people coming to Beacon, from all corners of Remnant and probably a fair deal of publicity even before the tournament proper. Ruby could definitely see why the people who run the school would be concerned about Beacon being presentable.

"You think those students will think badly of Beacon if they see us do something silly?" Ruby asked.

"I think they will definitely think badly of Beacon if you accidentally hit one of them while throwing possums at one another." The Deputy replied.

"Point taken." Ruby conceded. "But it's really not my doing, I'm not just saying that to save my own skin. I'm not sure if I can convince… certain people… to calm down."

"I think I know what people you are talking about." Miss Goodwitch sighed. "But since one of them is a part of your team, I suggest you at least try to influence them somehow?"

"But how? I have no idea how to even start." Ruby protested

"Why do you think we assign leaders to teams? So that they could make decisions based on the knowledge they have of their teammates, with their interest in mind. This is no different to a battle situation, in which you have to think independently to achieve a certain result."

"I'm sorry, it is really unlike a battle." Ruby pointed out. "For one there are no weapons involved, so…"

"Exactly like a battle." Miss Goodwitch insisted. "There will no consequence for you if you fail. But ask yourself this, Miss Rose; Do you really wish the current state of affairs to remain all the way until Vytal Torunament?"

No. As funny as some of the pranks were, even Ruby had to admit some of them went a tad too far. And if they escalated, if they escalated around the time they were preparing for the tournament… she didn't want to imagine the precise ways this could go wrong, but the danger was certainly there.

"I'll do what I can." Ruby promised. "Not sure if I can get them to like each other, but I'll defuse the tension somehow."

"That is all I ask." The deputy Head nodded. "If you wish to go now, you are free to do so."

Understanding she was being dismissed, Ruby marched towards the exit. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, exactly, but now she knew she had to do something.

 _I'll figure something out._ She thought as she entered the elevator and directed it to descend. _I am a leader after all._

* * *

Glynda sighed. She found herself sighing a lot in recent days, but it worked well enough. Expressing one's irritation, even in such a minor way, helped to reduce it to bearable levels.

She watched Miss Rose enter the elevator and ride it down, leaving the deputy head alone in the office of her superior. She sat there for a while, wishing she had some tea to drink, but still enjoying a moment of silence, a commodity in her line of work.

Naturally, since nothing good lasted forever, that moment eventually came to an end. The elevator door opened, showing not the young girl who just left, but a tall man in a suit, with a walking cane he most definitely did not need.

"Ozpin." At times like these, Glynda couldn't be bothered to use proper honorifics. "Thank you for lending me your office just for that."

"You are welcome, Glynda." Headmaster nodded. "I hope the peace talks have went as you hoped they would."

"Miss Rose seems to understand the severity of the problem, at least in part. That is more than I was expecting, though I'm not sure if it will amount to anything."

"You have to trust the leader with their own men." Ozpin replied, in his typically vague manner. "And even if she fails to convince her teammates not to jest, is that really a reason to be so concerned? Your nerves must be worth more than that, Glynda."

"One of us needs to be concerned about the school." Glynda retorted, only a second later realizing how unfair that was. "I'm sorry. I know you care about Beacon as much as anyone."

"No, you have a point." Ozpin sighed. "I have other duties, and those can be distracting. In fact, I was hoping to talk about them right now."

"What is it?" Glynda didn't bother to hide her concern. "Is it time to choose our guardian?"

"I haven't made a choice yet." Ozpin replied. "And Amber's condition is still stable, if largely hopeless. I am more worried about our enemies making a move."

"Has the Queen or her agents shown themselves?" Glynda asked, not using their enemy's real name out of habit.

"I'm not sure. But I have noticed something that might imply so." Ozpin walked up to the wall, staring at one of the gears. He did it quite often, and though Glynda never asked why, she suspected it made it easier for the Headmaster to center his thoughts. "You have noticed the increasing number of robberies in Vale? Especially those aimed to gather Dust?"

"I had ran into a few, as you know." Glynda replied. "I did not think them… connected to any larger conflict."

"The night you rescued Miss Rose, you confronted someone able to fight you off." Ozpin didn't ask, but stated what Glynda once told him. "You know that few people can match you in combat, and it's strange that one of them works with Torchwick of all people."

"You think Roman Torchwick was granted help from the Queen?" Glynda cocked an eyebrow. "That seems like quite a leap in logic."

"Perhaps." Ozpin admitted. "Yet just now I received a report of Torchwick robbing yet another store, this time with the help of masked allies. Faunus allies, if the report is correct."

"White Fang." Glynda instantly caught the meaning. "I can see what you mean. This is an interesting web of alliances he's forming. Do you wish I look into it?"

"I will see to the matter personally." Ozpin shook his head. "You should focus on your tasks in Beacon. As much as it pains both of us, this divide of duties seems like the best solution."

"Very well." Glynda knew better than to argue. "I will try to keep things relatively orderly. And I will inform you of anything I learn about our students that could help us."

"That will do." Ozpin turned around to face her. "Speaking of, do you have any idea of which of our students should become the next Fall Maiden? Assuming we have no other choice but to pick one, or course."

"Well…" Glynda felt uncomfortable deciding which of her students should go through a dangerous procedure and, if successful, be burdened with enormous responsibility, but it wasn't as though denying Ozpin information would make things any better. "Miss Adel is both strong and responsible enough for the role. I'm not sure if she would want it, but we cannot know that without asking her. Aside from her… no, I don't have any suggestions."

"Nobody from the first year?"

"If you mean who I think you mean…" Glynda searched for the words to make the next sentence sound pleasant and failed. "Ozpin, neither Team RRWP nor JNBY has a single suitable candidate. All of the young women there are willing to engage in an open war with other students for petty reasons, with the possible exception of Miss Belladonna, who is not suitable for a range of other reasons. Add to that, we are yet not sure if any of them can keep their calm in actual combat, with the exception of Miss Rose, who is way too eager to seek actual combat. I would suggest looking elsewhere."

"Then by all means, extend your search." Ozpin agreed. "But please, don't rule any of these ladies out. They are undisciplined for sure, but I see potential in each one of them. And when they finally see true combat, I am sure they will face it as true huntresses should."

Glynda hoped these words would remain unproven.


	14. Chapter 14

The sun shone through the large windows, flooding the hall with bright light. It looked rather pretty, as long as you weren't one of the unlucky students faced towards the sun, having to narrow their eyes to protect themselves from rays. It really seemed like everything in Beacon, including the mesa, was designed with aesthetics in mind rather than practicality.

Ruby entered the cafeteria, making her way to the table she and her team usually ate at. Sure enough, she saw all three of her teammates there, along with their... friends from team JNBY. Ruby expected just that

As some of her friends turned towards her, Ruby took a deep breath. She already had the words prepared, ones it took her a long time to pick. She knew she had to be careful not to be too obvious with her intentions, but also not so vague as to be impossible to understand. She thought she had struck the golden mean with her choice of words.

"I think we should go hang out together." She stated loudly.

"Aren't we doing that right now?" Yang asked. Of course _she_ would be the one to poke holes in Ruby's idea. Sisters could be really annoying sometimes.

"I meant hang out somewhere else." Ruby corrected. "Somewhere fun. I mean, eating dinner isn't exactly an attraction and it makes talking a little harder."

"Owly a lffle." Nora said with her mouth full.

"And what exactly do you want us to do?" Weiss asked in that skeptical tone of hers. "While I do not oppose the idea of spending time in a new manner, I cannot think of anything. "

"What do you mean you can't think of anything?" Ruby brushed the concern off. "We could go to an amusement park, there are a few of those in Vale..."

"Great idea!" Nora exclaimed once she swallowed her portion of food.

"You can go without me." Blake said. "I'm not into that sort of thing."

"I was on a rollercoaster once and ended up vomiting." Jaune added. "So you may count me out as well."

Damn, that wouldn't do. The goal of the mission was to have everyone go out and have some fun together, especially Jaune and Weiss. She had to figure out something both Schnees would enjoy, at the very least.

"So, how about we go to the cinema?" She offered. "I'm sure we can find a movie that all of us like."

"Romantic drama?" Blake perked up.

"An action movie?" Yang suggested instead.

"Sci-fi western?" Nora countered.

"Is that even a thing?" Ruby asked. "Ugh, forget it. I guess we kind of have different preferences."

"We are quite a diverse group." Pyrrha said. "I doubt there are that many common interests between all of us."

Ruby sighed. Though Pyrrha was being polite about it as always, her point was pretty clear - finding something enjoyable for all of them to do would be pretty hard. Come to think of it, their little bunch was quite diverse, hailing from three different continents and backgrounds, with not much to bring them together, except for...

But of course, fighting! They all knew how to fight and Ruby was sure they all liked it, in their own separate ways. All she had to do was suggest they would spar to... no, fighting against one another wasn't a great friendship-building exercise and could result in either Jaune or Weiss suffering an injury. But maybe there was a way to profit off that...

"How about we prepare for the Vytal Tournament?" Ruby suggested. "I mean, we still have a few months, but the sooner we start the better."

"That... is actually a reasonable idea." Weiss tapped her chin. "We are sure to face some tough competitors, so it makes sense to start the preparations right away."

"I approve of the idea." Jaune nodded. "But how exactly do you want us to prepare?"

That was a good question. Since sparing was out of the question, maybe they should work on their weapons together? Oh yes, there was no better way to spend time together then to engage in the glorious art of weapon upkeep and... no, that wouldn't work. Chances were, at least one party would object to showing off their weapons to potential future opponents. And besides, while Ruby was able to reap the joy from maintaining her weapon, she imagined someone like Jaune wouldn't see it as that fun, with that simple sword of his.

"Actually, I heard that the first wave of exchange students is due to arrive tomorrow." Pyrrha said, only now joining the intercourse. "One from Vacuo, I believe. We could meet them halfway and talk to them, or maybe just see them arrive and hopefully make out what to expect."

"You wish to spy on the competition?" Yang raised an eyebrow, though her voice betrayed some interest.

"It is a perfectly valid precaution to take." Pyrrha replied. "Though of course that is merely a suggestion."

"No, no, it's a good one." Ruby hurried to say. "We can go out tomorrow, see if someone interesting comes around."

It really was a good idea. Not Ruby's first choice, to spy on the competition, but one that some of her friends would certainly appreciate. Moreso, it was one of the few ways to prepare for the tournament that neither Jaune nor Weiss would attempt to sabotage, since being more aware of the competition wouldn't give any of them an advantage against the other one. And if one of them did think to sabotage the other somehow, it would have to be done in broad view, in a way that neither of them would be able to deny and would just cost them credit they could better utilize in a number of ways...

...wow, was Ruby now thinking in terms of complex schemes too? That was worrying. She needed to do something fun soon, simply to keep her sanity intact.

"I suppose since our opponents will certainly be looking for advantages, it's only fair if we do the same." Jaune said after a moment. "And I do not have anything scheduled for tomorrow anyways."

"I am free as well." Weiss stated. "This might indeed be worth our time."

"It's a date then." Yang concluded. "We go town, do a little prying and then maybe go eat something."

"Let's just not forget the last part." Nora added, looking over her empty plate. "The food here has quality, but is lacking in quantity."

"We will eat something afterwards." Ruby promised. "But let's not think about the details. We meet tomorrow and we go town, that's what matters."

For a moment, Weiss looked as though she was about to protest, probably the 'not think about the details' part, but ultimately decided against it. Everyone else seemed on board with the idea as well, some even nodding approvingly.

"Great!" Ruby felt relieved that her idea worked out, but also excited for the trip they now have planned. "I'll promise you guys, it will be real fun."

"Well, first we have to get through our lessons for today." Ren said, before standing up. His plate was empty, much like everyone else's by now. "We only have ten minutes or so before the Plant Science course."

"But I didn't get to eat anything!" Ruby protested, only now realizing her error.

"Well sis, that's the price you pay for being dramatic." Yang got up as well, a slight smile on her lips contrasting Ruby's growing frown. "Just hurry up and you might just be fine."

As people around the table scrambled to their feet, Ruby followed her sister's instruction. She quickly ran to grab as much food as she could, put it all on a plate and started eating even before she got to sit down at the table. She didn't have time to savor the meal, but screw that, she was hungry.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you." Pyrrha said, the only one who was still at the table. She had consumed her meal a while ago from the looks of it, so she probably stayed just out of politeness. Very Pyrrha-ish. "I am sure the teacher will understand even if you do end up turning up late."

"Thanks." Ruby said in-between the bites. "And thanks for giving me the idea too."

"We both want everyone to get along." Pyrrha replied. "In part because I do not want jars of sap aimed at me again."

"Sorry about that again." Ruby smiled apologetically. "Everyone likes you though. I'll get that if you have better things to do than to go with us."

"I will gladly come, actually." Pyrrha said. "Researching the competition really is a valid tactic. And I will welcome a chance to see how Vale is like. I did not have much opportunity until now."

"It's great." Ruby assured her partner. "A large city with a lot of stuff to do, especially with friends at our side. We are going to have lots of fun."

* * *

Vale was sort of stinky.

Jaune had been to this city before, even prior to joining Beacon, but he had never really taken time to actually take a walk around its streets. Now, as he wandered these streets with his little group of friends and family, he couldn't say he regretted not having explored this metropolis earlier.

It was nothing like Atlas, with its pristine buildings and impeccably organized streets. t wasn't even like Mantle, which in spite of its relative poverty, worked like well-oiled clock and had its streets patrolled by militants and heated by dust systems. The streets were not all that clean and definitely not surveyed diligently enough - Jaune spotted maybe two security cameras during their walk and he doubted there were many well-hidden ones - and the colorful balloons tied to lampposts to celebrate new arrivals were hardly enough to mask the city's bland looks. If that wasn't enough, the air smelled rather unpleasantly, with a thin odor of dead fish being only part of the malodorous mixture.

To be fair, the smell was mostly due to location. They were currently next to Vale's main harbor, one which already had a few ships docked in. According to what they managed to find out, some of the students who intended to take part in Vytal Tournament later this year were to arrive exactly here, at some point during the day. _Some_ of them, because apparently, it was next to impossible to organize a single transport of dozens people throughout Grimm-infested oceans of Remnant. Still, there was a good chance they would meet some of the other students and have a chat with them, if only to know what type of people they would be dealing with.

Or at least, that was the theory. Now that they were here, overlooking a harbor filled mostly with workers of all kinds and awaiting one of the passenger ships to spew out dozens, if not hundreds of people, their initial plan didn't look quite so great.

"Even if we spot someone who's obviously from another Academy, how do we approach them?" Blake asked, or maybe rather complained. "Do we just approach them in a group of eight people and say hi? Will that really start an informative discussion? Or are we going to be direct and just ask them to reveal all their secrets?"

Though Jaune wouldn't admit it, his teammate had an excellent point. He was skeptical of the idea himself, even back when it was first suggested, but decided there was no harm going through with it. Now that he was here, tired and somewhat sweaty under his armor - damn their idea to go out in their combat outfits - Jaune doubted if they would achieve anything by following that plan.

He was fairly sure the point of this little trip was not to actually gain any intel, but to somehow bring the two teams together. Ruby had to be a little worried about how... hostile things had been between them for the last few weeks, and frankly, he couldn't blame her. That little prank war they waged was rather tiring and it might had gone a tiny bit too far on occasions.

"Look, we can always just pass it off as a welcoming party of sorts." Jaune argued without conviction. "We might come off as awkward, but there is no real harm in approaching them and saying hi."

"Exactly!" Ruby agreed, from her place at the front of the caravan. She was the only one in their group of eight who didn't look tired, or resigned, or even all that sweaty. "We can even drop that whole 'spying on our enemies' gig and just try to make friends."

"I'd rather get something out of this trip." Weiss protested. Either she was too tired to hide her irritation with the entire situation, or she was doing it poorly. Jaune couldn't say that he blamed her - she was probably even more tired than him and she had to be at least somewhat reluctant to show her new, forest-green hair publically. "Even if that means just getting to see what our opponents look like."

"I can't believe I'm the one to be saying this," Yang cut in. "But shouldn't you tone down the competitive streak a little? I mean, these are the exchange students we are talking about. Before we can fight them properly, we will need to spend a few months just attending school with them."

"Are you saying we should use that time to arrange some accidents?" Nora asked.

"I am pretty sure that's not what she meant, Nora." Ren replied.

"Well I'm for one, am glad to see all these interesting people and their weap... I mean personalities." Ruby said, rounding a corner. She then paused. "Hey, you guys see that?"

Jaune moved closer to see what 'that' was. He was welcomed to the sight of a street blocked by police tapes, arranged around a small shop with its main window broken, glass fragments scattered across the asphalt of the street. Two people in uniforms were looking over the scene, policemen from the looks of it. They were talking about something, though not loudly enough to be heard.

"What do you think is that?" Pyrrha asked, her voice kept quiet. "And should we help?"

"Not should how much we can do." Jaune replied. Though now that he thought of it, maybe it would pay off to sniff around a little... "Wait here, I'll ask them something."

Ruby reached out to him and opened her mouth to say something - probably about how he shouldn't disturb the public officers during work or something like that - but he opted to ignore her. Weiss made no move to stop him, likely because she knew he had it handled.

"Excuse me officers, can we help you in any way?" Jaune asked, walking right next to one of the officers. The uniformed man opened his mouth, as though wanting to refuse right away, but paused once he got a good look at Jaune. In his armor, Jaune couldn't be confused for anything but a huntsman.

"Who is asking?" The officer asked instead.

"Jaune Schnee, Beacon Academy." Jaune replied, banking on his family name and the school in equal measure. "I'm not representing Beacon or anything, but me and my friends thought we could offer to help."

"Not sure how much you can." The other detective replied. "All the action is over. The robbery took place in the night and there is no sign of the culprits now."

Jaune figured as much, but that didn't quite sate his curiosity. "Who are the culprits? Assuming you have an idea."

"Wore Grimm masks, took only the Dust." The officer replied grimly. "There is only one group in Vale that would do something like that. The White Fang."

Jaune heard someone gasp behind him, one of his peers having heard these words. Jaune barely stopped himself from cursing out loud, though the shift in his expression probably indicated how he felt well enough.

The White Fang. Jaune recognized the name, knew what it entailed more than he wished to know. They were the hardened enemies of the Schnee Dust Company, even back when they weren't quite as violent. Back when Jaune first heard of the White Fang, he was somewhat sympathetic to them, or at least their cause - it wasn't as though the SDC or society as a whole was perfect - but they always caused more harm than good with their approach.

And then the truly violent White Fang was born, a brainchild of Sienna Khan and her radical followers. By now almost everyone heard stories about the White Fang and their misdeeds, but Jaune heard every single one of them and was impacted by some. Board member in charge of the company, friends of the Schnee family, anyone with any connection to the SDC was a target for the White Fang. They had their agents in many places, so it was no surprise they were also in Vale. But to be confronted with it like this...

"They are unlikely to return here. I think you should leave the matter to us." The detective said, his voice showing some concern now. Jaune realized that he had been silent for a long moment now and could hardly feign being unaffected by the news.

"Thank you." He said, aiming to excuse himself. when he received a nod back, he quickly turned around and rejoined his peers.

"So... White Fang." Yang said, as though making sure she heard that right. "This is this terrorist group people like talking about these days?"

"A bunch of murderers, I'd rather say." Weiss sneered. "They know nothing but to lie, kill and steal. No surprise they resorted to robbing stores."

"But why would they attack a random store like that?" Blake pondered, seemingly talking more to herself than anyone around. "What would they have to gain?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss retorted. "Dust is valuable. They steal Dust. That's what thieves do, Blake."

"White Fang doesn't commit crimes just because they can." Blake protested. "They're misguided, sure..."

"Misguided?" Jaune cut in, almost despite himself. "That's not the word I would use."

"I believe that we have no reason to argue." Ren said, slowly and calmly. "We cannot discern the motives of the crime and we have no interest in doing so."

Jaune felt calm wash all over him. Ren was right - they were, in all essence, arguing over nothing. Still, hearing the terrorists of the White Fang being referred to as 'misguided' was not something he heard every day. Not something he wanted to hear.

"Well, whatever reasons they have, it's still bad." A high voice said, one belonging to Ruby. "Right? If we can do something to stop it, we should."

"I concur, but I'm not sure how much we can do. We're not detectives, or even qualified huntsmen just yet." Jaune sighed. "I guess I'll just wait until some faunus criminal shows up, then think on what to do."

As Jaune finished the sentence, a blond man in a white jacket emerged from behind a corner and rushed down the street. Two men dressed like sailors ran behind him, no, chased him through the street, though they clearly struggle to keep up.

The blond man, though he really looked more like a boy up close, passed through the middle of the group without sparing them a glance. None of the students had the time to react or even say anything, though as the runner passed him, Jaune could see a unique trait of his - a tail, shaped like one of a monkey and covered in golden hair, trailed behind the boy as he dashed forwards. He put that tail to good use soon enough- in few swift moves he climbed up a nearby lamppost and, using only his tail, hang from it with casual ease.

"Get down here!" One of the sailors shouted as he sprinted closer. "You no-good stowaway!"

"That's not fair." The boy said. His voice was relaxed, carefree, even cheerful. "A no-good stowaway would get caught. I am a great stowaway!"

The boy then pulled a banana from under his jacket and peeled it. Before he could eat the fruit though, he had to jerk his head slightly to avoid a stone of the detectives tossed at him.

"Get down from there this instant!" The officer yelled, trying to sound authoritative. The faunus replied by throwing the banana peel in his face, before laughing in amusement.

"See you around guys!" The boy said before leaping off the lamppost, technically fulfilling the command given to him. He then ran off, barely concerned about the four men that were now chasing him.

Ruby blinked. "Well... that was a faunus criminal. Do we think on what to do now?"

It took conscious effort for Jaune to snap out of bewilderment. "I'm not sure. It is a pretty weird coincidence, but..."

"We have to observe him!" Weiss exclaimed. "Follow that filthy faunus before he gets away!"

The heiress then gave chase, running after the faunus with impressive speed for someone wearing high heels. Ruby shrugged and gestured her team forwards, soon causing the entire Team RRWP to join the chase.

Jaune wasn't sure whether following them was the right move. He doubted chasing after some faunus stowaway would do them any good, even if they succeeded, but it wasn't like they had anything better to do. "Right. Let's go catch that rapscallion." He then took the first step, already knowing that with his armor on, he would have to put some serious effort to keep up with...

"Wait." Blake said before any of them could start running. "Why are we doing this?"

"Doing what?" Yang asked. "I mean, he is a criminal from the looks of it and we're huntsmen, so..."

"For all we know he is just a stowaway." Blake protested. "We don't know if he has anything to do with the White Fang. We shouldn't assume just like that, or to call him names."

Jaune barely stopped himself from sighing loudly. He almost forgot Blake was a faunus and one that was sensitive regarding that sort of thing. Honestly, by now he was somewhat sick of having to mind his tongue whenever his faunus teammate was around, but a team-building trip like this was the last place and time he wanted to have an inter-team argument.

"Even if that's just a coincidence, he is still breaking the law right now." Jaune said, as diplomatically as he could. "Trying to apprehend him is something a huntsman would do."

"Well I don't think it matters anyway." Nora cut in. "They are pretty far away by now."

"Probably for the best." Blake remarked. "Do you honestly want to sit there and wait for some students to arrive so that we can _maybe_ talk to them? And then _maybe_ learn something from them?"

"Well we promised Ruby we would come..." Yang said, without much conviction.

"Well I don't think we can catch up to Ruby now." Blake retorted. "She is somewhere else now and I suspect her team will now be busy tracking some random guy through the streets."

"That's kind of your fault." Yang murmured. "And we really should be preparing for Vytal Tournament somehow."

"How about we go spar?" Nora suggested. "We can just call the guys from RRWP and tell them where we went and that they can join if they want."

"It does sound fair." Jaune nodded. As stupid as he felt for leaving without his objective complete, he couldn't really argue with Blake there. "We can socialize with our future rivals once they're at Beacon."

"Hey, I was promised food!" Nora protested. "Let's go to the restaurant first or something."

"I won't say no." Yang shrugged. "Where are going then?"

"A sushi place!" Blake offered, before coughing in her fist. "I mean, that's one of our options."

Jaune sighed. The depressing thing was, getting to eat something out in the town was probably a better way to strengthen team bonds than what they originally planned on doing. Who knew, maybe it would even be fun, and not in a 'lots of explosions' way some of their pranks were. If nothing else, it would be a nice break from eating in the cafeteria.

He wondered if the other team was doing quite as well.

* * *

Weiss panted heavily as she ran through the empty street, trying to catch someone she couldn't even spot. Her lungs burned as the demanded more air and her muscles already began to ache from the effort. In spite of the jogging sessions Ruby made her do, she wasn't the most resilient of people and she really disliked having a layer of sweat cover her brow.

Worse yet, it wasn't working. They had overtaken the detectives and sailors - the men apparently lacked the resolve to keep chasing the stowaway through a wide section of Vale - but they barely kept the pace on par with their target. The monkey faunus ran carelessly through the streets and occasionally jumped on a lamppost or small building, as though he didn't take the chase seriously in the slightest. They had lost the sight of him a moment ago, though they kept trying to catch the faunus by running in the same general direction.

"He went left!" Ruby yelled from her place at the head of the group. With her semblance she was the most capable of keeping up. "I think? I saw a glimpse, but I won't lay my head on the block or anything..."

"Just run!" Weiss snorted, in between her shallow gasps for air. She made a sharp turn at the nearest crossing and emerged from behind the corner just in time to see a tailed blonde disappear behind a rooftop of a nearby building.

"That guy is really... really agile." Ren said, gasping for air even harder than Weiss. "Do we really need to do this?"

"I highly doubt we stand a chance of capturing him." Pyrrha stated. "And now that that I think about it, since we don't have proper licenses, us capturing him could get registered as kidnapping."

"Are we really giving up just like that?" Weiss protested. She would not admit failure when there were still other options. "Ruby, you can still catch him? Just leave us behind and push your semblance further."

"I don't know..." Ruby jiggled her foot nervously. "I already got in trouble for huntressing once... and we don't know if this guy is all that bad, really..."

"Forget it." Weiss snapped. "Just give me an official leave as my leader. I will deal with this personally."

"Sure but... what exactly do you want to do? Are you climbing the building too?"

"I don't intend to climb." Weiss denied, before drawing her weapon. She doubted Myrtenaster would be used in an offensive manner this day, but having it in her grasp always made her more focused. More confident. "I'll go higher than that."

Without any further ado, Weiss launched herself into the air, propelled by the force her aura. The jump didn't take her very high, just two or three meters, but instead of falling back down Weiss created a glyph under her feet. She then propelled herself off that glyph, and then of another one, and another one, continuing her impromptu flight until she was above the roofs of even the tallest buildings.

Annoyingly, even from that height she couldn't spot the faunus thug. Maybe he was purposefully hiding from her, but most likely she just didn't have a good view of the streets from this angle. She wondered if she should go higher or just hover over some other spot, but was interrupted when she heard someone screaming from down below.

"...don't ...semblance!" The voice sounded like Ruby's, though the exact words were hard to make out. "...risk ...tired."

"Can't you see I have to focus?!" Weiss yelled back. Ruby was being an annoyance, which wasn't anything new, but still not appreciated.

Still, Ruby wasn't being as annoying as when the two of them first met, in that she wasn't coughing up explosions. Maybe Weiss attempt at being friendly were working, or maybe they were just getting used to one another. Whatever the case, Weiss was grateful that her team was somewhat operational , even if it wasn't going to help her now that she was... falling through the air at an increasing speed, nothing for her to stand on or to stop her descent.

Oh. She wasn't focusing anymore. That was bad.

An idea came to Weiss that she should create a glyph to amortize her fall, but there wasn't enough time and it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway, her momentum already large enough to splatter her on whatever surface she hit. In a split second she had before reaching the ground, Weiss summoned her aura to protect every inch of her body, protect her from the...

Crash. Weiss heard a loud sound as she collided with a ground, which was good, since it meant she was still alive. She moved her limbs, one after the other, and found that everything was still in place and working as it should. Still, the fall wasn't exactly painless.

Weiss cursed her bad luck. Not only did she fall from the sky because of a moment's inattention, not only did she not manage to land on any of the rooftops which would make the fall shorter and less painful, she didn't even land on the asphalt. She was currently lying on something hard, irregularly shaped and... looking like a redheaded girl in a blouse?

"Ouch." The girl stated. "That hurt a lot. I am feeling pain. Like a normal person." She then smiled, wider than Weiss ever remembered seeing someone smile "Salutations!"

* * *

 **I think this is the shortest chapter in the story, save for the introductory one. Sorry about that, but I kind of needed to end it before the next sequence, or else it would be unbearably long. Also I felt unreasonably proud of that ending.**

 **And in case anyone wonders, I won't be really doing Blake/Sun in this story. Sun will be featured, lest I wouldn't bother introducing him at all, but he won't get to be Blake's satellite character, as the latter is not the protagonist anymore. If you want a watsonian explanation for that, just assume Sun was more distracter here and he didn't think of giving Blake that passing wink as he did in the show.**


	15. Chapter 15

"And these are my teammates." Weiss said, gesturing towards the other three parts of her team. "Ruby, Ren, Pyrrha."

"I'm Penny!" Penny exclaimed, with the same kind of cheerfulness as during her first introduction. If it was someone else, Weiss would conclude that she was glad to meet Pyrrha Nikos, or just huntsmen in person, but this girl just seemed excited to just meet some people.

Penny was... weird. She didn't seem all that bothered about Weiss crashing into her - heck, she wouldn't stand up until Weiss specifically asked her too. What followed was a short, but extremely awkward conversation when Weiss introduced herself and tried to politely apologize for the incident, while Penny simply kept nodding with a stupid grin on her face. She looked... well, not like the sanest person alive.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Pyrrha declared with a slight bow.

"Yeah, and thanks for catching Weiss!" Ruby said with a friendly smile. "We were really worried for her when we saw her plummet down like that."

Weiss felt an urge to point out that she knew to keep her aura active, that Penny didn't exactly catch her and that the landing was still pretty painful, but she bit her tongue. After getting pummeled into the asphalt, Penny deserved some affability from her.

"I am happy to help!" Penny exclaimed, pressing her hand to her forehead in a salute. She then stood there silently, for several seconds, silence that no one knew how to break.

"Well, as much as I'm glad we've met, I think we should part ways." Weiss tried to be as polite about wanting to leave as soon as possible. "I'm sure you are in a hurry to get back to whatever you were doing before I bumped into you."

"No, I wasn't doing anything." Penny replied.

Weiss blinked. "So you were just walking around for no reason?"

"Yes." Penny nodded. The silence that followed was long and rather uncomfortable.

"So... are you from around here?" Ruby asked, stepping forward where no one else could.

Penny shook her head, her expression unchanging. "I only arrived here a while ago. I'm here for the tournament, you know?"

"The Vytal Tournament?" Weiss cocked an eyebrow. "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Should I point out the obvious hypocrisy of this statement?" Ren asked.

"We'll do without." Ruby replied. "So, um, Penny, what academy do you represent?"

"I'm from Atlas. I was chosen to represent the academy as a way to test... stuff?"

"Test stuff?" Ruby cocked her head. "Like, weapons? You want to test them against other students?"

"Yes!" Penny confirmed. "I want to test my... swords!"

"You want to test swords?" Ren repeated after the girl, sounding as though he really wanted to be elsewhere at the moment. Weiss could honestly say she shared that sentiment, but something else came to her mind...

"I hail from Atlas, but I never attended the Academy." Weiss said. "Could you maybe tell me something about it? How it looks like, how it feels to study there, what kind of people could you meet..."

Usually, such a direct attempt at scurrying wouldn't pass. No student with a head on their shoulders and concerned about their academy in the slightest would not casually tell their future opponent anything of value. But Penny didn't look like someone very interested in seeing her school win the tournament, or someone scrutinous enough to spot the bait in the first place.

"Alright!" Penny agreed. "I will download a book about the history of the Academy, as well as the official index of students and their appointed instructors. It should take me about a..."

"Not that way!" Weiss grunted, before remembering her manners. "I was thinking we could talk about our own experiences. Have a friendly conversation, maybe in some pleasant cafe."

Penny froze. The smile was washed away from her face and in its place an expression of astonishment appeared. She didn't utter a single word and neither did anyone else, struck by a sudden change in the atmosphere.

Weiss winced. Maybe she was being too direct and Penny caught up after all? Or maybe her invitation simply came off as too intrusive, too forward? She considered apologizing and dropping the subject, but it was the readhead who spoke first.

"Friendly?" She took a step towards Weiss, drawing almost uncomfortably close. "You want us to hang out? Like friends?"

"Well we could become friends in the future, I do not deny that possibility." Weiss suddenly felt sweaty, and not from physical effort. "But if you aren't comfortable with that that's fine, it was merely a..."

"Sensational!" Penny beamed as she grabbed Weiss by the shoulders. "We will paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Um, maybe we should take it slow?" Weiss suggested, feeling awfully nervous. No, _terrified_ was the word. "Like... how about we go sightseeing tomorrow? Right now I am kind of busy."

"Yeah, we were trying to catch a stowaway just a moment ago." Ruby, thanks heavens for her, came to Weiss defense. "We could... I mean we should resume the chase."

"I can help!" Penny announced."We shall catch whatever rapscallion has slighted you!"

While Weiss admired Penny's range of vocabulary, she did not welcome the perspective of a futile chase across Vale, with the strange girl as her companion. "Actually, I think we will do better job as a team. As in, me and my teammates."

"We can hunt together, in a group of five." Penny offered. "Right guys?"

"Right..." Ruby touched the base of her neck. She seemed to be hesitating between her loyalty to a fellow team member, and a desire to not be close to Penny for any extended period of time. "Um, I think I have to polish my weapon. I can't go hunting without my darling in a good shape, you know?"

Damn her. Having been forsaken by her own leader and with Penny still holding her firmly, Weiss stared towards her partner, hoping for some support from him.

"I have to check what Nora is doing." Ren decided against camaraderie as well. "Better not to leave her alone for too long."

"She has her team with her!" Weiss protested.

"Better not leave her with other people for too long either. On the other hand, I think you will be just fine with Penny and Pyrrha..."

"No!" The champion exclaimed. She then coughed into her fist. "I mean, I'm sorry but I cannot help. I have to... wash my feet." She added, earning some skeptical looks from her teammates. "It's a religious custom. You wouldn't understand."

"You cannot be serious." Weiss uttered, refusing to believe her own ears.

"Don't worry friend." Penny assured. "Together we are just about unstoppable!"

"Well good luck you two." Ruby said, turning around. "We will be waiting for you at Beacon Weiss, if you manage to es... catch that faunus quickly."

"I will have my revenge." Weiss stated, trying to give her teammates the coldest of stares. It probably still looked pleading, considering how desperate she was.

"I will help you avenge whatever it is you want to avenge." Penny promised. "Now onto the chase, friend!"

Weiss gulped.

* * *

The arena room in Beacon was empty, save for the four students that just entered through the door. Everyone else probably had better things to do that train indoors - either Team JNBY was among the most dedicated ones, or ones least capable of finding enjoyment outside of combat. It was hard to tell, really.

Right now, Jaune was just glad to find a suitable place to fight. While they were all somewhat tired after their walk through Vale, they were also rather bored and could use the stimulation a good duel could provide. Not to speak of other, even more negative emotions that still hung in the air.

"So, what are the matchups?" Nora, however, seemed to be teeming with positivity. "Partner against partner again?"

"We did that last time, and trying to punch Blake is annoying." Yang protested. "How about you and I fight first, then Jaune and Blake?"

Jaune initially wanted to protest, since having Blake fight him when she still held a grudge didn't seem like a good idea... but maybe it was. Fighting constituted a legitimate method of channeling negative emotions.

"Go ahead." Jaune ruled. "It is always interesting to see you two battle it out."

"Yeah, watch and learn from an expert." Yang smirked, walking towards the arena. "You might match me eventually."

"I threw that fight!" Jaune shouted after her, earning nothing but a snort from his teammate. She didn't seem to believe his claims that he held back during their first duel, for better or worse.

As Yang and Nora prepared for the fight, double-checking their weapons and stretching their muscles, Jaune took a seat in the otherwise empty stands. It was by no means the first time his teammates would fight one another - they had been training fairly regularly and had gone over all six matchups several times each - but it was still an important exercise, one that allowed them to refine their skills without having to give anything away. Yang and Nora were a particularly good pair, as they were quite evenly matched and each had to be clever in hopes of beating the other one. One swing of Nora's hammer could be enough to end the fight, but even Magnhild would do little if Yang managed to get too close.

As he mused about what result to expect, Jaune heard someone take a sit right next to him. Surprising it was, apparently Blake came over to him.

"Um, you got a minute?" The girl asked.

"I'm not exactly busy at the moment." Jaune replied, stopping himself from giving an even more sarcastic reply. "What is it?"

"Well, I just got reminded of something you said." Blake replied. "Not today, I mean. It was way back, after our first combat lesson."

"Are we seriously going back to that fight between me and Yang?" Jaune sighed. "I thought we settled that."

"No it's... something else." Blake clearly did not enjoy the talk, but kept going anyway. "It's nothing important, just something that stuck with me."

"Nothing is too unimportant to talk about." Jaune ruled. "Go right ahead, if something bothers you."

There was a long pause, during which Yang and Nora finally got to fighting down on the arena. They opened as expected, With Yang jumping just outside of Nora's range, ready to attack at the earliest convenience. They were both being careful now, but once they started actually having fun, they would no doubt go all aggressive.

"You once said that no one really wants to be equal." Blake finally said. "That everyone just wants supremacy."

"I may have said something like that. What of it?"

"Is that how you view the White Fang?" Blake was seemingly ignorant of the way Jaune tensed hearing the name. "Do you think they don't actually want equality, or that they ever wanted?"

"Frankly, yes." Jaune replied sharply. Perhaps sharper than he meant. "Their actions speak for themselves."

"I get they are radicals, but... don't you think that maybe they just went too far pursuing something good?"

"What are they hoping to pursue by killing people?" Jaune retorted? "By setting fire to shops, hijacking trains... they want people to fear them, or maybe they simply enjoy violence for its own sake. Doesn't make much of a difference to me."

"White Fang used to be peaceful!" Blake protested. "They tried to do things the right way, but they weren't getting results and so..."

"You don't resort to terrorism just because things aren't going your way." Jaune cut in, his voice harsher and more firm. "I do not take that as an excuse, sorry."

"Well if people like... if people actually cared back when the White Fang was trying to be peaceful, this wouldn't be an issue!"

"That's..." Jaune wanted to retort, but thought better of it. He could see that that argument was going nowhere and that maybe it would be better to concede a little bit. "That is a fair point. But I still don't condone what the White Fang is doing, and I'll be lying if I said I sympathize with them."

"I get that." Blake sighed. "It's just... the world can be harsh for the faunus. People genuinely try to make it better."

"True." Jaune shrugged, even though he was actually quite tense. He formed his words carefully, keeping in mind Blake's irritability and her identity as a faunus. "I never denied that faunus have it rough. They are limited to being the underclass in one of the human kingdoms, or living in that mess of an island they've been given."

"You mean Menagerie?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"Geographical location is certainly not the best, and it's said that fauna can cause some trouble." Jaune responded, grateful for a chance to use concrete knowledge. "But the real problems are political in nature."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how every Kingdom is governed by an elected Council? Menagerie has a chieftain. A single person responsible for most major decisions, with a title more fitting for some tribal warlord than a leader of a civilized state."

"But... if that's how the faunus there want to be, then what's the problem?" Blake protested, strangely upset once more.

"I'm not exceptionally knowledgeable regarding the subject..." Jaune slowly said. "But from what I've heard the system does not work very well. I remember reading that the last time Menagerie had to face a horde of Grimm, there were literally people on the streets trying to get the citizens to sign up for militia. There is not having a standing army and there is just being..."

Jaune only paused to watch Yang fly over his head, soaring through the air at high speed only to crash into the tribunes with staggering force. She scrambled up a moment later - fortunately she looked unhurt and not particularly bothered, aside from looking somewhat annoyed.

"That was a cheapshot." Yang grunted. "Can't you win any other way than by ringout?"

"Sorry, Magnhild packs a bit of a punch." Nora shrugged, a satisfied smile on her face. She then raised her voice further. "Next pair, please!"

"Yeah, let's see if you two got rusty." A smile entered Yang's face. "Onto the arena."

Jaune wanted to ask for time, to maybe finish talking and dispel any lingering malice between him and Blake before they started fighting , but Blake would have none of it. She stood up, hand near her weapon, looking quite anxious to begin.

"I'm ready." She said, her voice sharp and serious, and then made her way down towards the ring.

"What's up with her?" Yang asked, moving over to Jaune. "Did you piss her off again?"

"Apparently." Jaune replied, though he couldn't see why Blake was mad either. She mentioned being raised outside the kingdoms once or twice, but that didn't mean she was from Menagerie... was she? "Just set up the screens properly. I want to know that we don't end up fighting to the end."

Yang nodded, understanding what her leader meant. Most mock fights ended once one of the combatants lost enough aura, but before it could actually break. In friendly spars like that they would often forgo that rule and just fight until someone lost their aura or surrendered but now... it wouldn't be a _friendly_ spar, exactly. It was wise to have safety measures in place.

As Jaune made his way to the arena, Yang went on to activate the relevant systems. A holographic screen above their heads flashed to life, displaying the bars that symbolized the amount of aura Blake and Jaune had. During the fight, these would gradually dropped, until one of them would be registered as the victor.

Jaune reconsidered if he wanted to win this fight. Letting Blake win seemed like an obvious way to calm her down, but she would probably be able to tell if he held back, and that would only annoy her even further. It was probably better to just fight fairly, even if that wasn't the best option either... having to appease Blake was getting more burdensome by the minute.

After a few moments, both of them were within the bounds, each holding their blade in hand. Gambol Shroud was a cleaver, held by its wielder in both hands, while Crocea Mors was... well, what it always has been. A double-edged longsword with few cracks, but nonetheless a dangerous weapon. Dangerous enough, hopefully.

"Ready to begin?" Yang asked from behind the console. Neither of the fighters below answered - they just nodded, Blake somewhat more confidently than Jaune.

And for a good reason. The very moment the screen flashed, indicating the start of the fight, Blake was already on the attack. It didn't take her a full second to close the distance and a split second later she was swinging her weapon at Jaune, a wide strike that was bound to cause serious damage in case it connected.

Luckily, Jaune had a way of preventing that. He managed to unfold his shield and raise it in time, the blow merely clanking against the hardened metal. For the briefest moment, the two of them stood still in the middle of the ring, before Blake jumped back as to not give Jaune any chance for a counterstrike.

Not that there would be any. For all his skill and tricks, Jaune wasn't particularly fast, certainly not fast enough to keep up with Blake. And even if he did connect, the girl could probably negate the blow with her semblance. Jaune could only hope to keep defending like he just did, but even that wouldn't work if...

With practiced ease, Blake unsheathed her weapon, giving up on larger yet clumsy cleaver in favor of a katana. Made of a dark-grey metal and sharpened meticulously, it would only inflict a little less damage in exchange for greater speed of attacks.

In time like these, Jaune really regretted not having a proper mecha-shift weapon, or a semblance he could use to even the odds in situation such as this one. As it stood, he could only try to block again as his teammate charged towards him once more.

It didn't work. Blake ducked under the shield, a risky maneuver but one that momentarily surprised Jaune. That moment of inattention was all it took for Blake to slash with her sword at Jaune's hip, a painful strike that cost a lot of aura to absorb. Ignoring the pain, Jaune attempted to strike back with his longsword, but the blade only hit shadows as the real target jumped back, far out of reach.

"That was quick." Jaune said, assuming a defensive stance once more. "Still, you needed to use your semblance to dodge. That means your footwork is imperfect."

"Perfect or not, I at least have a semblance to use." Blake quipped back. "Can't say the same about you."

Somehow, that did it.

It wasn't the worst thing Blake had said to him, not even on that very day. Not by a longshot. But like a straw breaking the camel's back, being reminded of not having any semblance to fight with, of this... deficiency, made Jaune burn with anger, all the frustration from having to constantly try not to offend his own teammate finally bursting out in a rush of controlled fury.

 _Screw everything. I'm winning this fight._

Jaune did not reply verbally. Instead he assumed a defensive stance once more, sword and shield ready, and waited for Blake to attack. After a moment she did, once more scoring a glancing blow and jumping back just far enough to dodge Crocea Mors being swung at her.

This repeated several times. Jaune was able to parry a strike or two, but never properly strike Back - Blake was too quick for that, her reflexes too good and her semblance too convenient. Her aura stayed practically untouched as Jaune's absorbed blow after blow, slowly going from green to yellow, then starting to approach the red zone.

It was an amazing thing, aura. It allowed one to stay alive after receiving countless otherwise lethal blows, but that was only a small part of its functionality. It strengthened the blows of the user, determining the force of the attack far more than sheer muscle mass did, protected against cold and heat, healed whatever small wounds one sustained, enhanced senses when used correctly and, of course, provided fuel for the semblance which opened a whole new range of possibilities.

However, it didn't do everything. It couldn't provide your body with any extra energy to actually function - a trained huntsman still needed to breathe, eat and sleep - and it didn't make one's lungs any larger. Swinging at your opponent repeatedly tired you out all the same... especially if you were a slim girl who had just recently returned from a long walk across heated streets and who was too angry to properly conserve energy.

"Maybe you can give up already?" Blake offered, in-between swings. "I think both of us would benefit."

"Don't think you can finish it?" Jaune quipped in return. It was a childish goad, one that wouldn't work had Blake been more rested and more calm, but right now, the girl probably really wanted to end the fight. Without another word, she raised her weapon again and charged at Jaune yet another time.

And Jaune, as per usual, raised his shield in defense. Blake, nicely enough, swung with her blade directly, perhaps hoping to provoke a counterstrike, or maybe just hoping to do some damage with sheer force of the attack. It wouldn't end up mattering in any case.

Just a split second before Gambol Shroud struck the metal, Jaune pressed a switch and folded the shield back into its passive form, a mere sheathe grasped within his hand. Carried by the force and surprised by the move, Blake kept swinging forwards, the sword merely brushing against Jaune's shoulder. She was off-balance, if only for that short moment.

And then Jaune punched Blake in the face.

The attack didn't do much damage, aura-wise – Jaune wasn't a particularly strong puncher and Blake's aura wasn't exactly weak. But it was unexpected and, regardless of the force involved, the sensation of having a fist impact one's face tended to be disorienting. Jaune hurried to make the best of the moment, stepping forwards and inside what would normally be Blake's guard.

Blake recovered fairly quickly and, as though driven by pure instinct, attempted to jump away. That didn't do much good though - before she could put any distance, Jaune grabbed one of the strands of her long, freely flowing hair. It was a tactic he worked out years ago, as he sparred with Weiss over and over again, and it worked just as well.

"Let..." Blake didn't even begin to form a plea before she was pulled towards the ground, a yelp escaping her lips. Jaune fell with her, intentionally, knowing that in order to win he had to... simplify the fight a little bit.

"Get off me!" Blake snarled once she was pinned to the ground, the much heavier body of her teammate preventing her from getting up, or moving at all for that matter. She wasn't in a good position to strike, but she attempted to do so anyway, gripping the hilt of her sword and...

A fist struck Blake in the stomach. It didn't do much damage in terms of aura, but it drove the air out of her lungs all the same. Jaune used the moment of distraction that bought him to swat Gambol Shroud away, putting it firmly out of Blake's reach.

"You may consider giving up." Jaune said, calmly but with a sharp edge. He was a little surprised at how his own voice sounded, but he paid it little mind. "I think both of us would benefit."

"Shut up." Blake spat back. "You'll have to beat me to a pulp before..."

The fist struck again, in more or less the same place. This time Blake was better prepared, tensing her muscles to soften the blow, but she still winced from the pang of pain.

"You think I'll mind?" Jaune growled. "You've been an annoyance since the very start. You'll ignore everything I say, ignore your entire team, do your own thing and then act like I'm doing something wrong. You're really selfish, you know that?"

"You think you're not?" Blake replied once she caught some breath. "I don't think you care either. About me, about your team, anything that doesn't immediately help you."

"Do you really think..." Jaune couldn't finish, as a boot impacted his ribcage and sent him flying backwards with aura-amplified force. Blake had to be really nimble to score a kick from that position, but Jaune should have expected that. He only had himself to blame for not being attentive enough.

The moment she was freed, Blake rushed to grab her weapon. She managed the quickly and handily, but not before Jaune gripped his own blade and rushed forwards with Crocea Mors raised and ready to slash. It didn't work before, but now he had a moment's advantage and with all his strength one blow should be enough to...

Jaune was knocked back by sheer force, a shockwave born out of some kind of explosion. The force almost broke his aura, stronger than any single blow Blake employed. Speaking of the girl, she was currently invisible to Jaune through the cloud of smoke. Smoke that, Jaune noted, had a rather distinct pink coloration.

"Alright, that's it!" Nora shouted, walking onto the stage with her grenade launcher placed on her shoulder. From what Jaune could see, she was rather angry and confrontational, whereas Yang was looking over them from the stands looking more horrified than anything else. "I'm calling it a draw. Stand aside before one of you kills the other."

"We were obeying the rules, Nora." Jaune protested, somewhat annoyed with his partner interfering in a fight.

"Not in spirit, it seems." Nora growled. "It's supposed to be an exercise for brother gods' sake! You are just doing everything you can to win."

"I didn't do anything." Blake objected. Jaune could see her through the smoke now and she didn't look very happy either. "I wanted it to be just a swordfight, he started beating down on me the moment he got the upper hand."

"Sorry, no tolerance rule applies." Nora replied. "Also I'm pretty sure you provoked it."

"Well I'm not the one who just shot a grenade at us." Blake shot back, causing Nora to flinch slightly. A small victory. "And the first thing I'm doing tomorrow is going to Miss Goodwitch and telling her that..."

"Are you going to tell her your little secret too?" Jaune cut in. Words were coming out of his mouth almost automatically, formed and voiced in the same instant. "Or are those ears behind your ribbon to stay hidden?"

"You..." Blake was taken aback. Her ears twitched, not strongly, but enough to "Were you spying on me? Did a background check or something?"

"You are just bad at disguising yourself, that's it." Jaune shrugged, though he was still fully tensed. "Is that why you like the White Fang so much? You think it's your racial duty? Do you just need to side with your species, even when they're terrorists and murderers?"

"I'm not..." Blake's voice shook, but soon turned steady once again. "Well what if I am siding with them? Who else is there to side with? Is your kind any better? Are you any better?"

"Are you kidding me!?" Jaune no longer made any effort to appear calm. "Is there something you're not getting? How can you possibly support those scum? After all they did, after what you saw they did..."

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake exclaimed, her words echoing off the walls around the arena.

"What do you even mean by that?" Jaune asked. Then, as the words settled in, he blinked. "Really, what did you mean? I don't understand." His anger gave way to confusion. Judging from Nora's expression, she felt much the same way.

"I..." Blake didn't seem angry either, but in her case, the emotion was replaced by embarrassment. No, that wasn't it. It was fear. It was _terror._ "I need to..."

Blake then bolted out of the room. She didn't just walk out, she didn't even run - she dashed as quickly as possible, dispatching a clone to boost her as she rushed towards the exit door. Jaune could not stop her - none of them got as much as a chance to shout after Blake before she disappeared behind a corner.

"What just happened?" Yang asked, only now coming down to meet her teammates. "Why did she just... made off like that?"

"I'm not sure." Nora replied. Jaune couldn't help but notice that she didn't say 'I don't know' or anything like that. Because while nothing was certain, there was a certain explanation that made... a frightening amount of sense.

Blake was a faunus. That was beyond a shadow of a doubt. Perhaps by 'we' she meant all the faunus as a collective, but it didn't really sound like it and it wouldn't explain her running away. Innocents never ran.

She possessed advanced combat skills, different than the ones they usually taught in combat academies. She never explained where these came from. She had to be trained by someone and for a reason.

She hated the Schnee family, hated them more than someone without personal experiences would.

She was very emotional whenever White Fang was mentioned. she wasn't wholly supportive, she rather seemed conflicted, torn. Maybe regretful.

She rarely opened up, let alone openly spoke about herself. Never spoke about her past. She hid her identity as a faunus, hid her reasons for disdain towards Jaune and Weiss, hid her reasons for even being at Beacon.

Given all that, who was she? There was an obvious answer. One that Jaune should have figured out a while ago.

"Where are you going? Jaune?" Nora asked, seeing her partner walk towards the exit. "Are you going to chase after her?"

"No, I don't think I will." Jaune replied. "That might be unwise. Maybe."

"What do we do then?" Yang asked, her voice much less confident than usually.

"I don't know." Jaune kept on walking. "I need to think. I need to form a plan. Something like that."

Jaune didn't want to let his teammates know how confused, how downright _scared_ he felt. It wasn't just that he didn't know what to do - it's that he didn't know how to form a plan. He didn't know whether he should even bother planning. Maybe he should just chase after a terrorist in disguise? Or alarm the authorities? Was that the right thing to do? Would his teammates approve? If they kept asking him for guidance, what was he supposed to say?

Luckily they did not. Neither Nora nor Yang had anything to say, they just both followed him towards the exit, leaving the arena empty, the screens blank now that there wasn't anyone in the ring to trace. It seemed like his teammates were just as shocked as he was and didn't know what to do either.

For that, at least, he was grateful.

* * *

Ruby flipped the page of the weapon magazine she was reading, closing the section about metallurgy and opening a list of currently popular types of ammunition. That part wasn't as interesting as all the ways of forging weapons were, but it was more practical - Ruby wasn't planning on constructing a new weapon any time soon, but some specialized ammunition would be nice.

"Ruby?" Pyrrha could be heard saying, uncertainty in her voice. "Don't you feel a little... bad?"

"Why would I?" Ruby looked at her partner from above the magazine. "I feel pretty good at the moment, in fact."

"I just think it was... rude of us to just leave Weiss alone with that unusual girl. She is our teammate after all."

"She's also not made of glass. She can survive with Penny for a while." Ruby brushed off. In truth she also felt a _little_ bad about leaving Weiss behind, but then again, the girl needed to socialize a little with normal... or rather _casual_ people. "Besides, don't you have to wash your feet?"

"I needed some excuse..." Pyrrha slumped on her bed. At the moment there were only two of them in the dorm, Weiss still away in Vale and Ren studying in the library. Ruby usually liked spending time with just her partner like that, though right now it was a little awkward. "Do you think Weiss will be mad at us when she comes back."

"Look." Ruby sighed, putting down the magazine. "Weiss will be fine. She might chew us out, because Weiss, but I bet she won't be furious or anything. Maybe she even enjoyed the trip?"

In that very moment, the door opened and another person entered the room. She had green hair and a contrasting white dress, with heels that added a little to her meager height. She looked in many ways like Weiss, only she was...

"You look tired." Pyrrha said concerningly. It was a bit of an understatement, since Weiss looked absolutely exhausted, complete with an absent expression and bags under her eyes.

The Schnee heiress paid her teammates no attention. She strolled over to her bed and, uncharacteristically for her, fell onto the mattress flatly and without an ounce of grace, burying her face in the pillow.

"Are you alright Weiss?" Ruby got seriously worried now as well. "Did something happen? Something bad?"

"Penny." Weiss said, her voice somewhat muffled by the pillow.

"What about her?" Ruby kept asking.

"Penny happened!" Weiss raised her voice. "Just... everything about her! Every little thing!"

"She seemed friendly..."

"That she certainly was!" Weiss snorted. "She dragged me through Vale, stopping every minute for the smallest thing. Statues, stalls, malls, bookstores and once she stopped to study a trashcan she found interesting! She acts like she had never seen a city before!"

"Maybe she's from somewhere rural?" Pyrrha suggested. "I mean, she struck me as somewhat unusual..."

"At one point, I led her to an ice cream booth just so that we could slow down for a while." Weiss went on, as though talking more to herself than any of her roommates. "I was hoping to talk with her, excuse myself somehow, or maybe just tell her off because I was that annoyed. But she wouldn't pay attention to me, only to a damn ice cream cone! She didn't even eat the thing, she just sort of... analyzed it like it was the weirdest thing ever."

"That does sound kind of weird." Ruby admitted. "But you did lose her eventually?"

"By the time we circled the entire city, yes." Weiss replied. "She said that it was really late and that she needs to annoy herself or there might be trouble."

"Annoy herself?"

"She said she needed to 'grind her gears'." Weiss elaborated, making quoting marks with her fingers. "Who cares? I'm just glad to be away from that freak."

"You mean she isn't coming over to Beacon?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "I thought the exchange students are going to sleep with us."

"She is staying somewhere else. Wouldn't tell me where, not that I would care." Weiss sighed. "It looks like I won't have to deal with her anymore."

"I mean, we will meet her at the tournament." Ruby pointed out. "Perhaps we will even get to fight her team."

"If we do, make sure the fight ends up quickly." Weiss looked at Pyrrha. "Take her out as quickly as possible, don't even try to make it a fair fight. Maybe if she loses by a landslide she will feel bitter and won't talk to me anymore."

"I suppose we can hope." Pyrrha replied. "I gather you didn't catch than stowaway after all?"

"Of course not. And frankly, I no longer care. Though since he shares the blame for this mess, I swear to kill him if I ever see him again. And I will demand your help."

"I don't think we are supposed to kill people, Weiss." Ruby objected. "We are huntresses, you know?"

"I'll just call a favor with Team JNBY then. I'm sure they will gladly kill someone."

"They're not killers, Weiss." Ruby pointed out. "I think you're being kind of unfair to them. And definitely tired. You should just rest right now."

Weiss mumbled something. It was not very coherent, but it sounded like an agreement.

"Has anyone checked on them?" Pyrrha asked. "Team JNBY, I mean. We haven't seen them since we parted ways back in Vale."

"I'm sure they're fine." Ruby replied reassuringly. "I mean, what could have possibly happened in a few hours?"

* * *

Blake ran.

It was the only thing she was good for, it seemed. For all her training, skill and powers, running away usually ended up being the best solution. When threatened in combat, just dispatch a clone and run off. When you want to turn your life around, just turn against your former comrades and run away from the past. And when your past comes up, just run away even further.

She really didn't know where she was running to. There was no destination in mind, no plan, not even an inkling of what she was supposed to do next. She was just dashing through Beacon's courtyard, wishing to get as far away from... everyone really. She needed to be alone, to collect her thoughts, to figure out what to do next.

For now though, she had to catch her breath. Running from one end of Beacon Academy to another was an exhausting feat, especially right after having fought a long battle. Her legs ached, sweat covered her brow and she longed for air like nothing else. After looking around and making sure no one was around, she stopped in the middle of the courtyard, near a large statue that adorned the piazza.

It was an impressive thing. Two figures, both carved from the same grey stone, stood side by side on a small hill. A man and a woman, the former holding a sword high in the air as though in a gesture of triumph.

Huntsmen. Brave, powerful, larger than life figure united in their fight against the darkness. It was what they, as students, were supposed to aspire towards. It was what Blake was hoping to eventually become, to leave her old life behind and join a purer, more admirable cause.

What an idiot she was to think this would ever work. From the very start she was struggling to fit in, to work with the people that should be her teammates. But instead of a coordinated team, they were a mess of a group that couldn't even stop infighting. Instead of fighting injustice they fought other students, be it on the arena or outside of it. And, though it was petty to be bothered by it of all things, she wasn't able to win against her own teammate, even holding every advantage and trying her hardest against someone she despised.

Jaune Schnee. That, at least, she could not have predicted. It was a twist of fate, a mockery really, that she would end up on a team with a Schnee of all people. It could never work out and if anything, Blake was surprised how long it took for the two of them to come to blows. Maybe Jaune was right and the conflict was her fault, maybe it was his, but it didn't truly matter. There could never be peace between them given her past.

Her past... right now it was a secret forfeit. Her teammates knew that she was a faunus, and she all but told them that she had fought for the White Fang in the past. She could try to deny it, but it wouldn't do any good. They would probably just hand her over to someone in power, or maybe try to hand out justice themselves if they felt angry enough. In any case they wouldn't trust her ever again.

Having calmed her breathing a bit, Blake took a look towards the Beacon proper. The grand castle, inside of which her teammates likely sat and tried to decide what to do with her. Assuming they were not chasing her, which was all the more reason to leave this place.

Blake sighed. It was regrettable, but she could see no other way. At least now, selfishly or not, she was doing something she was good at.

And so she resumed running.


End file.
